Finding Rest in the Why

Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.

“Come to me all 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”. Matthew 11:28-30

WHY…

This one word “Why?” can turn our searching hearts and minds in circles. As we dig for answers amid loss and heartache, any answer that can be squeezed from this one-word query gives hope. With answers, everything will be set right. The searching can stop, and the circling will end. Finally, we can believe…rest, then wholeness and closure can begin.

But what about the times when there are no answers to bring closure? What if, with every new answer, comes another batch of questions? Where do we go for rest when the demands and responses become too much for our souls to bear? When what we had hoped would bring relief, instead offered up a double portion of disappointment and heartache?

Built into each of us is the very human desire to understand every detail leading up to the moment everything unraveled. Knowledge equals power and so we press on in the name of “closure”.  And we trade the power given us from on High for a false feeling of power seeking to know.

In our humanness, control is what answers offer. If we aren’t in control, we can only deduce that someone else is. And in moments of deep pain and hurt, someone else having the keys to our relief can feel risky.  Loss and particularly a loss of control, makes us want to know why…we demand to know. Suddenly, we give up on all things that don’t point us to an answer. Because without an answer to the ongoing question of why, how can we ever rest?

Friends, it is in these moments of searching where our trust is most tested. Even when we don’t know why, God does. He sees everything. Nothing goes unnoticed, no pain ever wasted. He knows the details of each situation: every accident and loss; each missed cycle and monthly excitement; every sickness and exactly what it would take to cure. He sees into the window of the desires of our heart and feels the pain when they shatter. He knows all, He sees all.

And He knows the answer to the depths of our questions. Through God, we have access to The Answer- Jesus.

Jesus– comforter to our souls.

In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says “Come to me all 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.”

Jesus provides us with an alternative to the demands we are making in times where there are no answers. Instead, He says that if we come to Him, He will take our questions, our worries, our hurt; He will carry the whys with little effort, bearing all the weight on His mighty shoulders under everything that threatens to crush us.

God provides Jesus to carry the burden and His Spirit to interpret for us when we have no words. We don’t have to know what to ask, or exactly how to ask for it; the Holy Spirit translates our muffled cries and grief-stricken sobs into phrases our Heavenly Father can understand. Paul reminds us of this in Romans 8:26 “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans”. The words and answers have been provided to us in the name of Jesus.

Jesus is our Why. He is our Who. And in Him, true rest can be found even when nothing else makes sense. Take heart! For he has overcome!

Father, help us to trust you with every moment of our lives, but especially in times when nothing makes sense. Help us to look to you for truth, freedom, and hope in our suffering and loss. You have offered us Jesus, who is familiar with our pain; a Savior who knows our loss and heartache. Father, I ask you for your peace as we move through painful places into rest that can only be found in your Son. Amen.

Today’s post was written by Ashley Gregory, who is a contributor to the Deeper Still Devotional Blog. Ashley lives in Mt. Sterling, Illinois and is married to Mark. They have 3 children and she serves on the Central Illinois Deeper Still team.

Deeper Still is a ministry that offers free weekend retreats for women who have had abortions and the men who fathered children lost to abortion. If you have had an abortion and would like more information about our retreats, please go to www.GoDeeperStill.org to find a retreat close to you. 

 

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