Soul, find your rest in God alone; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Ps. 62:5-8“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matt. 11:28-30
Gracious Father, nothing compares with being certain of your love—to have no doubts about what you think about us. To know, for certain, that we are fully and eternally your beloved children, because of Jesus’ work on our behalf, is incredibly freeing.
Today, in particular, I’m thankful for the freedom we have to pour out our hearts to you—to come boldly to the throne of grace because we still need grace; to cry for mercy because we need mercy. Because the gospel is true, we don’t have to measure or monitor our words with you; we don’t have to rehearse what we’re going to say to you before we say it—for you already know everything that’s in our hearts. How I praise you for such a rich and complete standing in grace.
As this day begins, I acknowledge what you already know to be true. I feel a restlessness that I cannot really attach to any one thing. There’s a floating disquiet—a low rumbling antsy-ness that’s just hanging there. It could easily morph into something much more potent if I try to deny it or dance around it, so I echo back to you King David’s longing for soul rest, and I make his prayer mine.
“Soul, find your rest in God alone. Don’t medicate with anything else. Don’t minimize or super-size your restlessness. Just run to Jesus with it. Go to Jesus right now.”
Indeed, Lord Jesus, I don’t want to waste any energy today on the “paralysis of analysis.” I don’t want to spend any time navel gazing. I don’t want to treat my soul like an onion to be peeled, layer by layer. Whatever is repent-able or repairable in my heart, I’m sure you’ll show me. I just want you, Lord Jesus. I ask you to bring your centering presence, your stabilizing mercy, and your calming peace to my soul. That’s all I need today, or any day.
I do trust you, Lord Jesus, for you have born the burden of my sin and you gladly taken this restlessness in my heart. You are my rock, my salvation, my fortress, my honor, my refuge, and a whole, whole lot more King David didn’t mention in this psalm. I praise you for being such a wonderful, merciful Savior. So very Amen I pray, with hope and great anticipation, in the perfection of your name.
