Rest Your Weary Heart

Here it is. Friday. The end of the weekly toil and the beginning of a time of renewal. I reach this day so tired, even renewal seems exhausting. I want to catch up, to rest, to prepare for the week ahead, but I fear I will only be able to collapse into a short hibernation.

These past few weeks have been full of bitterness. They have been marked by the sweet joy that only comes with deep friendship and by the stabbing pain of betrayal. It seems like I am constantly finding the endings. The end of comfort as pain fills my body. The farewell of friends who have grown and shaped me. The door shutting on the little life I have begged God for. And now here we are again, at the end of the week.

I don’t know what your week was like. My yesterday involved hospital rooms and my tomorrow will bring the DMV. Yours might have involved heartbreak or victories. Maybe all your laundry is folded and put away (I have heard rumors that this can happen) or maybe your heart is full of the disappointments and the weight of your to-do list.

Whatever your week has brought, stop. There is no sense worrying about quickly uttered words, what has passed has passed. No sense wondering about the “ifs” or “buts” for they are the were nots. This weekend, our sabbath, is here. So stop and rest.

Rest from the trial and rest from the victory and center your heart on the Maker.

Remember not the former things,
    nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert. – Isaiah 43, ESV

This week will fade away. Like all of our days, they are but a blip on the grand scheme of life. This world, every facet of it is being recreated.

We can let go of the weight of the week and walk forth because HE is doing a new thing. You can breathe in deeply and rest in the knowledge that a way is being prepared. The past, it is behind you. The weight of the week is being lifted up by the glory of the cross. Your burden is no longer your own.

He has taken this week and redeemed it for His glory. It is finished. So rest in that peace. Rest in the truth that the week, God’s work, it is finished. And creation, starting with your very heart, is being remade.

The Maker, He is pursuing you with His love and goodness. He is forming a path for your feet.

So this weekend, stop and breathe in His goodness. Soak in the Word.

If you don’t know where to start, I recommend the Psalms or Isaiah. Both have been a salve to my heart in these tumultuous times. They remind me of His faithfulness and that, while humans will fail me, there is one who is trustworthy.

I am the Lord your God,
    who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. – Psalm 81, ESV

He has brought you through the week, and He will bring you through your trials.

This year has been a wandering year. It has been marked by pain and uncertainty. I wonder why He has allowed it. What could a good God possibly gain from the heartache I see around me? I look and realize that my pain pales in comparison to the survivors walking ahead of me. So I keep on. Because of them, I know His goodness, His grace extends far beyond the edge of this desert. And I know that I will be filled.

There is a comfort here. He has goodness in store for you. The path is clear and our God is good. This next week will bring what it will bring and our God is already preparing the path. Do not remember the things of old, look to the newness of what He is doing.

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