Daily Delight
“He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake." -Psalm 23: 2-3 (NASB)
I’m a recovering performing perfectionist who used to try to do it all to gain God’s approval. I would hate when people would tell me to just rest and trust in the Lord. Why? Because in all my perfectionism and productivity I was afraid He wasn’t going to lead me anywhere. I believed that resting meant do nothing and that God would somehow set me up for failure. But read those verses again and notice the verbs.
Jesus is leading, restoring, and guiding. Always.
You’re still moving, still accomplishing things, still living everyday life but His way and His way is just better. It’s a way of rest. It’s in His strength, not in your own. Striving and trying can never replace what trust and rest can do. We actually go further when we rest.
So how do we get there and what does that look like practically? The first verse says that, “He makes me lie down,” His very presence in your life invokes a response of rest. He already paid the price for every single thing you could possibly face on the cross and when He was finished He was seated at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19 NASB). It was check-mate, game over. He rested from His work (Heb. 4:10 NASB).
As born-again believers we enter into that same rest. His death was my death, His ascension my ascension, His rest my rest. There’s no need to struggle, strive and worry when you realize it is already finished! There’s nothing left to strive for! All we have to do is trust Him enough to follow where He leads. He’s going to take you places, He wants to accomplish your dreams and goals, you’re going to get through the hard times, but He wants you to do so from a place of rest – free from anxiety and stress.
{photo: @dreacoci}
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About the Author
Sam Jones
≫ ≫ Sam is a woman with passion for first-love devotion to the Lord who uses creativity to express that devotion and draw others into the same manner of worship. She is fascinated with the God who desires relationship and union and writes openly about this grace. Sam lives in Alabama with her husband and is obsessed with her huge family, finding the perfect latte, and exploring new places.