Your weariness has been heard, and the cry of a tired heart is not hidden from the Lord who invites the heavy laden to come unto Him. You say you have no strength to continue and so much is always going on, and you long for calm. That is the very condition to which Jesus speaks when He says, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Understand then what rest He gives. It is a present rest, rest now, not only rest after death or after probation, but rest given when we come to Jesus, given there and then. It is perfect rest, yet it is not the rest of idleness. True rest to the child of God is rest on the wing, rest in motion, rest in service, not rest with the yoke off, but with the yoke on. We are to take His yoke upon us and learn of Him, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. It is rest after rest, first I will give you rest when you believe, and then ye shall find rest as you learn of Him and walk with Him. In this service you do rest, like birds which sleep upon the wing. It is rest to labor for the Lord Jesus.
There remains also a deeper rest for the people of God, a perfect rest yet to come where there are no more Monday mornings and no more toil, but here and now the believer may enter into rest by believing. We who have believed do enter into rest. Trust and you shall rest. And if you have for a season lost the enjoyment of that rest, hear the word of the Psalmist, Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. Rest in the Lord Himself, not merely in anything about the Lord, but in the Lord Himself. That rest is contentment and perfect satisfaction with your earthly lot, free from the greed of avarice and the spoiling of ambition, finding fixedness of belief and peace of mind because Christ gives rest of the deepest, truest kind, which the world cannot give and cannot take away.
So we will pray for you as you have asked, and we will pray also for that better rest which sustains you whether the calm comes this week or through patient endurance.
Our Father, we bring this weary one before Thy throne of grace in the name of Jesus Christ, through whom alone is salvation and access unto Thee. Thou knowest the burden, the sleepless cares, the needs of business and household, the bills that press and the desire for relief. Give, we pray, that present rest which Christ gives to those who come to Him. Quiet the heart, fix the mind on Christ, and teach this soul to learn of Him who is meek and lowly in heart.
Grant contentment in Thee and wisdom for every duty. If it be Thy will, provide calm in the midst of labor, and in Thy providence open doors for honest provision. We ask Thee to bless the work of hands, to send paying clients and signed contracts according to Thy good pleasure, and to supply money to meet needs and pay all bills, that this one may labor with diligence and rest with faith, remembering that this rest is consistent with labor, for we labor to enter into that rest. Keep from anxious fretting about family, business and the frail body, and let the soul be delivered from death, the eyes from tears and the feet from falling, that it may return unto its rest.
Give grace to take Christ's yoke voluntarily and to find His service to be rest, and to know that if Thou art served faithfully, Thou wilt attend to Thy servant's business. Let this rest be found more and more, a deep and abiding rest, till the perfect rest remains. We ask for a season of refreshing if it please Thee, even a time of paid rest from toil, but above all that calm which comes from resting in the Lord. Hear this desperate cry and deliver speedily in Thy mercy and wisdom, for Christ's sake. Amen.
