And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 

Mark 6:31

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And now we are the ones coming and going. Living by our lists of all the things we need to get done. We are our own slavedrivers.

Busy, busy bees is what we are and we hold up our constant doing as though it is worthy of commendation.

We are tired, are we not? Exhausted from the keep up, stay on top of it, don’t get behind whip that keeps stinging our back. Tired of trying to be enough and keep it all together. Tired from saying yes because we don’t know how to say no and be ok with someone else’s disappointment.

Some of us are tired of our inability to walk in freedom. Bone weary of trying harder only to find that all it amounted to was failing harder.

And some of us can’t stop because stopping means we’re alone with our thoughts. Alone with our failure and our pain and our past. Slowing down leaves us too much time to think and feel and be overwhelmed by our life. So we pick up our pace in an effort to outrun what we just don’t have the energy to face.

We wrestle with the lies we’ve been taught to believe. Rest is lazy. Rest is unproductive and weak. It’s for the unmotivated and the under achievers. If you have time to lean you have time to clean. Good things happen to those who hustle.

We need to walk in truth so we need to know truth. We can rest.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

“And He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:18)

“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.” (Exodus 23:12)

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” (Psalm 23:1)

We are invited to stop so that we can be refreshed. To lay ourselves down in His abundance and His care for us. To be with Him. To cease our striving. To find healing in Him. To live with peace.

To learn how to rest.

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 

2 Corinthians 12:9

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Sufficient. Enough. All that I need. This is His grace. Divine enablement. Power, shown to be most effective (made perfect) through my very own weakness.

When I feel tormented, His grace is sufficient.

When what is before me is more than I have the strength to endure, His grace is sufficient.

When I don’t know and I can’t control and I can’t understand, and all of that makes me feel untethered.

His so sufficient grace holds me together.

I need not look for, or play to my strengths, there is no grace in that. Instead, I will acknowledge and embrace every weak place, every bit of my not enough, so that I can taste the all sufficiency of His grace.

The grace that saved me.

The same grace He tells me that I am under, and that I stand in, the grace upon grace that is given to a wretch like me.

(Be still my heart, we are surrounded by grace.)

I will be tempted to feel around for a bootstrap I can pull. To summon something up from the depths of me. To give the appearance of strength even as I prop myself up with things that will evenutally give way.

But I will resist that temptation. I will boast instead in what the world would have me hide. I will shout it out; I will wear my weakness for all to see.

Because oh my goodness, how I want to be a resting place for His power.

I want to walk in truth, so I will speak this truth.

His grace is sufficient. Always. Every single time.

For the word of the Lord is right and true;
    He is faithful in all He does.

Psalm 33:4

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God is always doing something, even if it seems that He isn’t. He is not passively waiting for the world to end. He is rescuing, delivering, healing, comforting, drawing, protecting, leading, filling, disciplining, loving, listening, moving, pouring out, setting on fire, breathing life, raising up and tearing down. He is being who He is at all times, and who He is, is the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth and Lord of all.

And in all things, He is faithful.

He does not trick us or mislead us.

His love for us does not grow cold or turn away.

He does not forget us or overlook us.

His provision does not run out and His love never fails.

Our 11th hour is not His 11th hour. He will always be on time.

He is faithful to know what we need and when we need it, and He is faithful to give us everything we need for life and godliness.

He faithfully provides for the birds of the air, and considers us of much more value than birds.

He faithfully loves us at all times.

We must get this truth into us so that nothing can shake it out of us.

He is faithful.

Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:7

That lie. That stretching of truth.

Eating and drinking what is slowly killing me.

The greener grass that makes me think I belong over there instead of here.

I don’t have to. I don’t have to do them or think them or wish I coulda.

I can resist.

I don’t have to give as good as I get. Return evil with evil. Eye for an eye.

Anger doesn’t have to be my response. Neither does sarcasm. Words that sting or bite or cut.

Jealousy, envy, or my “what about me” attitude. None of those have to follow me into the room.

Because I can resist.

I am not the devil’s slave. He has no authority in my life. He can hang around if I let him, but I don’t have to let him.

I can resist.

I can choose not to gossip, not to be the one who brings division. I can choose to stop resenting others, stop protecting my pride, and I can start submitting.

I can resist and that is truth and I need to know truth so I can live truth.

I can decide that I would rather look like Jesus than look like me.

I can submit to God, and I can resist the devil.

I belong to Christ. I am a citizen of heaven, and the Spirit of God lives on the inside of me. Nothing can make me resist God and submit to the devil, except me.

The devil can’t make me do it.

I can resist.