Corona Devo 1847

Sometimes rest and refueling is needed.  (Do we need it today?)

There are times when God's call and requirement on our lives is almost too much, too exhausting, too tiring, too draining, or...as Ezekiel said: too overwhelming to handle.

Sometimes we just have to take a step back and rest, and that is okay. 

A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. (44) Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.  

(45) “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. 

Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.”  

(46) But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.”  ~Luke 8:43-46

I would never equate our experiences to those of Jesus, but if we have served Him by serving others...if we have served in ministry outreaches (large or small), if we've been involved in missions...or if we have met with another person and imparted God's Holy Word to them...it's draining sometimes. 

Jesus felt healing power go out from Him. We can feel a similar withdrawal within our spirit and being as we actively live-for and serve Him too.

This is not to say that we are not physically/emotionally/intellectually/or spiritually fit to do the Lord's work, but there are times (of needed rest) when we must reckon with the fact that serving God takes and requires a gear that is on another level, in comparison to any other kind of tasking in life. 

Serving the Lord (doing ministry) is life-changing.  Serving the Lord (doing ministry) is God-commanded.  But, serving the Lord (doing ministry)...is draining at times.  

Ezekiel got his call/assignment from the Lord, and he was so overwhelmed by the magnitude of it, that he sat among them for seven days.

  

The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. I went in bitterness and turmoil, but the Lord’s hold on me was strong. (15) Then I came to the colony of Judean exiles in Tel-abib, beside the Kebar River. I was overwhelmed and sat among them for seven days.  ~Ezekiel 3:14-15

Can we relate?  Are we overwhelmed by God's call on our life today?  

Maybe we teach Sunday school (children's ministry) every Sunday or even once in a while.  Little people are coming to know our big God because of our lesson plans, object lessons, snacks, and Jesus-inspired antics.  But...children's ministry is tiring.  Come to Jesus today for rest. 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (29) 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. (30) For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  ~Matthew 11:28-30

Maybe we teach adults (not kids) about the Word of God.  At a work/business Bible study, in our homes for small group, or at church regularly: seekers and seasoned-Believers and anyone-God-puts-in-our-path are growing closer to Christ because of our dedicated time, Scripture-study,  resource-investments, and because of our desire to serve God by serving others.  It's awesome.  But (let's face it)... ministry is tiring sometimes.  It is good and it is right to enter into God's rest sometimes: 

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; (10) for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. (11) Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.  ~Hebrews 4:9-11

Maybe, like my husband, you write curriculum to teach God's word.  He pours over Scripture daily and he develops weekly lessons and slide shows for our public school district middle and high school Christian student groups.  He also preps and prays, and leads a weekly high school Bible study in our home.  Some weeks there could be 80 or more young adults hearing God's word through the study and daily preparation that my husband enters into.  We praise the Lord for these opportunities and abilities to serve Him, and we know that lives are being affected for God's glory...but sometimes it's exhausting.

Maybe you know this feeling of weariness-in-serving (there is almost a guilt in admitting it).  But even Jesus took time to rest.  We can and should also. 

• Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.  ~Mark 1:35  

• Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. (16) But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.  ~Luke 5:15-16  

• Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”  (32)  So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.   ~Mark 6:31-32 

And maybe you are serving in full-time ministry.  Sharing the Truth of God is everyone's spiritual-obligation, but for those working in ministry: it is (literally) their job.  The lives and stories and hardships and triumphs that they encounter with God's people everyday are demanding.  Are filling.  Are rewarding.  

Clergy and staff within churches and ministries cannot easily separate from the needs and hurts of their flock, but sometimes we must.  Our spirits and hearts need refueling and refilling too.  And that's okay. 

• For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. (16) Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  ~Hebrews 4:15-16  

• Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.  ~Psalm 55:22

~~~

Ezekiel wasn't crazy, lazy, inept or ill-prepared for serving God when he was overwhelmed and sat among them for seven days (Ezekiel 3:15).  Ezekiel was just like us.

Doing the Lord's work is hard work.  

Sometimes rest and refueling is needed.  

Do we need it today?  Then take the Lord's rest today.  His Word and His love for us give us complete permission to do so.

Blessings,  

sarah  

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com