When was the last time you took time off from your hectic schedule to just rest? I had a wonderful break for 5 days with my brother, Steve, and his little family in Colorado. It was wonderful because I had no responsibilities. I could sleep in if I wanted to or stay up late. I was able to slow down my crazy pace of life and just relax. There was no agenda to follow, no meetings to attend, no house to clean. I was able to sit with my Bible and really study what the scriptures were saying to me. It was great to take time off to recharge my batteries.
The Lord wired us to take time to rest. We are created in His image and He created the world in six days and then He rested [Genesis 1:26; 2:2]. If God rested after working hard, why should we think we are able to keep going and going and going? The enemy tries to keep us busy so we won’t take time to rest. When we’re rested, we’re far more dangerous to him.
Psalm 62:5 says, “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him.” We need to pause each day with the Lord and find our rest in Him [Matthew 11:28]. And sometimes we need to pause for more than just a few minutes. We need to retreat with Him and allow Him to pour deeply into our souls so we have something to pour out to others. You can’t pour out of an empty vessel.
We all need to squirrel away with Him and drop the load we’ve been carrying and adding to throughout our days and allow the Lord to determine what we are to carry [Matthew 11:29-30]. He knows what we can handle. He created us [Psalm 139:13]. We simply need to “Be still and know…” [Psalm 46:10].
I challenge you to take time today with the Lord to rest in His presence. Ask Him if you need to take more than just morning time with Him to recharge your batteries. If He burdens your heart for some time away with Him, don’t let it slip by unnoticed. Take a few days with the Lord to rest in Him. Find a retreat [such as Encounter @ 46:10] or create your own one on one retreat with Him. You will be refreshed, refueled and ready to face the world.