"Rest"

He leaned back from the campfire,

And tipped up his old hat,

He glanced over at his pony,

Said would y’all look at that.

And there was his old pony,

Layin’ flat out on the ground,

Though his lead rope was still tied,

Front legs hobbled all around.

Reckon he’s been injured,

You think he is okay,

I asked him without thinking,

‘Bout what he’d have to say.

Oh yeah, he does it all the time,

He’ll take a little nap,

But when it’s time to go to work,

He’ll jump up in a snap.

And then he said he’s lot like me,

I’ve gotten that-a-way,

Don’t take much to nod me off,

With work or even play.

I felt strange when he said it,

‘Cause this old man and me,

Had covered lots of country,

And all that I could see,

Was someone to keep up with,

It was a daily chore,

‘Cause he could sure outwork me,

Kept coming back for more.

Then a new thought hit me,

Maybe that is why,

He really rests when he is stopped,

And gets strength for his try.

Me I’m always working,

My mind just wants to go,

It wants to trot and gallop.

Even when I tell it whoa.

The more I thought about it,

Allowed it must be true,

I started with the question,

But then he snored on cue.

Since then I’ve learned the lesson,

‘Bout tryin’ to get some rest,

It’s simple but important,

To cowboy up my best.

“So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God…” (Heb. 4:9, NLT)

God rested on the seventh day but it was not because He was tired. It was because He knew we would be. Saturday was set aside under the Old Covenant as a day of rest. But what about the New Covenant. This passage speaks of the Christian life as being a Sabbath rest. How? We are able to rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ for one thing. This means we receive something as a gift that we cannot earn. It also means that the Christian life must be lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. If the life of Jesus flows through us, we are at rest while He works. This doesn’t mean there is no effort on our part or discipline or exertion. It does mean however that all our trying is spent in trying not to try, but depend on God’s power to do through us what we otherwise cannot do. There is a rest we need, and can only have in Him.

Lord, help us to accomplish more by learning to rest in You, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Tim Cox, timcox.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Tim, and God bless you.