Rest for the Weary

Paraphrased from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings:

In preparations for his one-hundred-and-an-eleventh birthday, Bilbo Baggins was sitting in his kitchen with his good friend, the wise wizard, Gandalf.  Gandalf was astonished at how young the old hobbit appeared, despite his apparent age.  After some brief conversation, Bilbo, became vulnerable with his friend and commented on his age, "I'm tired, Gandalf.  Like butter scraped over too-much bread."

Unlike fictitious hobbits, humans do not need to be one-hundred-and-eleven years old to feel burnt-out, spread thin across the bread of this life.  In the hustling bustle of contemporary culture, where working to exhaustion is the subsumed norm of life, taking a moment to recollect and breathe is an utter necessity.  However, Scripture speaks of God as the source of respite amidst the storms of fatigue.

While it could be useful to ask why are we burnt-out, in an effort to assess whether the various sources of our weariness are in fact worthy in themselves, for the purposes of this brief discussion we will assume, rather, that we are tired and look to God's Word for relief from the desperate tiredness of modern life.

At the onset, God must be the starting point in any conversation of rest.  The Lord God Almighty created the whole of creation.  And, in His infinite and perfect wisdom, He created day and night, a regular cycle.  This cycle lends itself perfectly to man who is built with a need to rest.  Moreover, He instituted a day of rest, a sabbath, so that man may find relief.  These are not coincidental or inconsequential truths; God has factored our need for relief from work into creation itself.

Additionally, weariness is the fertile soil of endurance, and it is endurance that grows into character of the godliest pedigree (Rom. 5:1-5; James 1:2-4, 12).  Again, the purpose of this dialogue is not to address the reason for tiredness, although it will suffice to say that weariness arising from wickedness or sinful activity will breed no endurance and cannot be soil for character growth.

The point is that God has made Himself to be our rest.  He has fashioned creation for our rest and has made us to rest.  Unfortunately, from time to time, we find ourselves in seasons that require us to regularly work ourselves into utter exhaustion.  During these prolonged periods of tiredness, it is essential that we remember to rely on God for our rest and relief.  Let us then hold fast in faith to the Holy Lord so as to be filled with relief even amidst the trials of endurance!