Resting in Him

 By: Grace Metzger

Come to Me, all you who are weary
and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28 ESV

If you had asked me last week if I struggled with resting I would have laughed in your face. I am a very big homebody and any second I have available I prefer to be at home relaxing. So whenever anyone spoke about struggling to find ways to rest and calm down I never understood how this could be a struggle. But this week showed me how very wrong I was about the concept of rest. My way of resting, which is normally lying in bed watching TikTok or binge watching my favorite show, wasn’t working in calming me down. I had a stressful couple of weeks and no matter what I did I still felt restless, stressed, and anxious. So it was time to reevaluate my definition of resting.

The Lord replied, “My presence will go
 with you and I will give you rest.
Exodus 33:14 ESV

When I searched up Bible verses on rest, this one came up and it made me pause. This verse isn’t talking about sleeping or not doing any work. It’s speaking of a Spiritual rest, where you spirit is fully at peace and with God. So I tried it, I turned off my phone for a night and spent my time with God. And let me tell you, this had much better results than being on my phone did! Spending just a few minutes away from all distractions allowed me to relax my body and mind and fully focus on God.

I started adding this to my routine and even though this has been a very recent addition to my life, I can already see how much it has improved my mental health. During this time I’m not on my phone, I have no music playing, this isn’t even necessarily a time of reading my Bible. This time is a few minutes where I dedicate my attention fully on God.

Be still before the Lord and
wait patiently for Him.
Psalm 37:7 ESV

The Bible calls us to just sit and be still with the Lord. It isn’t an easy thing, the first day I did this I couldn’t do it for more then five minutes before my mind started to wander. But slowly overtime it gets easier and you start not only loving this time, but looking forward to it.

So today I challenge you to spend a few minutes being still with God. You don’t have to shoot for an hour on your first day but try doing it for a couple of minutes. The change you will see in your mood, life, and stress will amaze you. Just be still with the Lord.

 

Discussion questions:

1.) Do you find it easy to rest?

2.) what keeps you from resting