By: Pastor Luis Rodriguez
Many years ago, in the chapter of my life as an electrician, I remember one specific Job, and I will never forget this job because I was on site for 24 hours. As a service electrician I received this call to do emergency repairs to restore power to an apartment building that had 30 units with no power, the repairs were extensive, it took a crew of 6 workers, working nonstop for 24 hours to accomplish this feat, but I remember that around 4am, after working for 20 hours my eyes started getting really heavy, this tiredness came over me, and all I wanted to do was just to lay down and fall asleep, I knew that I needed to stay awake but could not, the tiredness was getting to me. All I could think of was my bed, I looked forward to getting home taking a shower and go to bed and possibly sleep for the next 24 hours. I share this story because with all the news we keep on hearing this few weeks in our community and our church family I feel like we are just exhausted and maybe you feel like I did in that job site, were exhaustion is taking its toll and we wish for rest but it not there yet, and it may feel like there are 4 more hours of work, built all we can think of is taking a shower and going to bed. But thinking of this story and everything that’s going on all I can think of these beautiful verses in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 11 verses 28-30.
The words “come to me, all who are weary and burden, and I will give you rest” Jesus makes us an invitation to find rest in him, this past two years have made us weary and have become burdensome, and we may find ourselves tired, and maybe we have forgotten that Jesus is waiting for us to come to him to find rest. We may find ourselves physically exhausted, emotionally exhausted or spiritually exhausted, maybe you just want to scream at the top of your lungs, “God would you give me a break!” and maybe that’s all we need to ask. On my story I got to the point where I could no longer keep my eyes open, so my coworkers told me go take a 20 min nap, I did and I was refreshed, and I was able to push through to finish the job and got to go home to a hot shower and the comfort of my bed. But in the same way, maybe all we must do is take a 20 min nap, and find rest in Jesus, to be able to push through in this time.
During this pandemic I feel that we have tried to find rest in many different things but Jesus, and I want to remind us that all we have to do is find rest in Jesus.
Jesus also invites us to be yoked with him, and if we are yoke in him, we can find rest for our soul, this invitation is a reminder that Jesus wants us to walk along with him, by being yoked to him we can keep the same pace with him, but we are so impatient and we want to go fast. Jesus wants us to find rest in him, and to walk alongside him in our story with him.
Maybe we are tired and we think that we won’t be able to make it to the end of the job, using the example of my story, but maybe we find ourselves at hour 20, and maybe all we need is a 20 min nap, to be able to push true the next few hours to complete the job, this pandemic will pass, but we can only stay strong if we can find rest in Jesus, during this hard times.
Maybe we have lost love ones, or maybe we find ourselves very sick that the doctors have not given us hope, even though that maybe our time in this earth may short we can find rest and refuge, knowing that we can trust Jesus, and if we are yoked with him and are able to find rest in him, we can trust in his promise “Because I live you shall live also” because he lives we can find rest.
My prayer this week is that if you find yourself tired and burden, that you can trust Jesus and find rest in him. My prayer is that you can feel comfortable that he is in control, and that he invites us to take a 20 min nap in him, to be renewed and be able to face this harsh world. May God bless you and remember that we can give our burdens to God.