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Finding Rest in the Middle of a Restless Situation. Happy Labor Day to the Finishing Well Community! I hope you’re enjoying this day with friends and family as we eagerly await the fall season. When dad asked me to write a devotion for the Labor Day week, my mind immediately went to the thought of having an extra free day with Ruthie, the kiddos, and celebrating that college football is back! I’ve always known Labor Day to be a time that marks the end of summer, the beginning of fall and most importantly an extra day of rest. What I didn’t know until I researched this holiday is that Labor Day began with anything but rest. Labor Day actually has its roots in riots that broke out in 1886 in Chicago over people having to work 12 hour days, 6 days a week. Now I’m all for working hard but 72 hour work weeks might be a tad much. People knew they were not made to run that hard for long periods of time. Our souls can’t handle that terrain and eventually our mind and bodies will break down. So how do we find rest in the middle of a restless situation? Jesus surprised me when I realized His most popular verse on “rest” (Matthew 11:28-30) is found between two of the most restless and tension-filled situations anyone could face. In the midst of political injustice & corruption, unrepentant sin (Matthew 11) and poor theological accusations and arguments against Jesus, (Matthew 12) He offers ‘rest for our souls.’ “Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 A few quick observations on this verse … Jesus’ rest does not come about when all of our problems go away. Jesus’ rest does not come about when we’ve curated the perfect atmosphere. Jesus’ rest comes about only through His presence. Jesus offered his rest (presence) to John the Baptist in the middle of being unjustly put in prison for speaking the truth to those in power. Jesus offered the Pharisees rest (presence) in the form of a rebuke for their theological error in believing their behavior could create the blessing they needed. Jesus frees us from having to rationalize or ignore the pain we’re in. He invites us to bring our pain, complexities, questions, doubts, anger, and fears to Him so we can have rest in the chaos and allow Him to move us forward. There’s one question we must answer in order to find rest & move forward. Which ‘yoke’ are we tied to? For John, life wasn’t fair but he wasn’t forgotten by Jesus. For the Pharisees, their performance wasn’t enough, but Jesus still offered them a better power to live by. For you, what restless situation keeps clashing in your soul and needs the invitation of Jesus to find rest? On this Labor Day, may your heart rest in the One who went to work on your behalf. Through His work on the cross, we find rest for our souls, rest in our relational conflict, rest in our fears, and rest in our negative thoughts. Jesus is our rest in our unrest. ‘You have made us for yourself O Lord & our heart is restless until it rests in You.’ - St. Augustine of Hippo
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