Walking With Christ

Psalm 46:10  “Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”(ESV)

There’s a rest that sleep alone can’t give.  Sleep can help the body recover, but only God can quiet the war inside the soul.  Only God can enter the chaos without being swallowed by it.  Only God can sit with us in the loneliness without asking us to perform our way back into peace.

That doesn’t mean we should ignore our limits.  Sometimes the faithful answer is to close the door, turn off the noise, stop answering every demand, and be still long enough to remember that we’re loved before we’re useful.

But isolation can become dangerous when it stops being a place of prayer and becomes a hiding place for bitterness.

So withdraw, but don’t disappear.

Step away, but don’t harden.

Be quiet, but don’t shut God out.

Rest, but rest in the right place.

Because the invitation of Jesus isn’t, “Come to me when you’ve gotten yourself under control.”

It’s, “Come to me.”

Come tired.

Come angry.

Come afraid.

Come lonely.

Come burned out.

Come before the sharpness becomes sin.

Come before the silence becomes a wall.

Come before the exhaustion convinces you that nobody cares.

The chaos may still be loud tomorrow.  The responsibilities may still be waiting.  The people around you may still need more than you feel able to give.

But you were never commanded to be infinite.

You were invited to come to the One who is.

And sometimes, the most faithful prayer you can pray isn’t polished, eloquent, or strong.

Sometimes it’s just this:  “Lord, I’m tired.  I’m angry.  I’m afraid I’m going to hurt someone with words I don’t mean.  I need rest, and I don’t know how to find it.  Meet me here before I turn my exhaustion into sin.”

And He will.

Not because you performed well.

Not because you held everything together.

But because He is gentle and lowly in heart, and He gives rest to weary souls.

Sometimes stillness begins with one obedient step away from the noise.