Finding Rest

March 4, 2023

Is there something in your life that you struggle with? Maybe it’s an addiction - to alcohol, pornography, food, or something else. Or perhaps it’s a behavior, like a short temper or impatience with others. Do you ever vow to do better, to work hard at changing, and then inevitably fall short of that promise and quickly fall back into the prior behavior, sometimes worse than ever before?

We all have areas in or lives where we struggle, where it’s difficult for us to let go. We trust in ourselves, believing that with just a little more will power, trying just a little bit harder, we can overcome whatever obstacle is in our way. And over and over again, we fail. So, what then? If it’s not about trying harder, if it’s not about simply being better, how do we overcome that obstacle?

The answer is we don’t. We can’t. We need to give up trying to do it by ourselves. We need to recognize that we’re too broken and sinful to do it alone. Until we come to the end of ourselves – recognizing our weakness, admitting that we can’t do it ourselves, and begging God to take the burden from us – we’ll never find peace from our struggle.

But the good news is that where we are weak, God is strong. The One who overcame sin and death is there waiting to take on our burden, we just have to let Him. And then, and only then, will we find rest for our souls.

Prayer:
Lord, help us to recognize our own weakness and fallibility. Help us to give up our burden and strife and rely on you, and you alone. You took up the cross, so we didn’t have to. May we repent and find forgiveness in your grace and mercy, may we be filled with your spirit so that we find strength, and may we rest in you. In your name we pray. Amen.