Tired Of Being Tired

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. - Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

Weary: tired, worn out, exhausted, fatigued, dog-tired, spent, drained, burnt out, jaded, pooped, gassed…

Burdened: weighed down, overloaded, oppressed, troubled, grieved, distressed, tormented, depressed, stressed, afflicted…

Maybe you can relate to these words. Maybe you’ve been feeling this way for far too long. Our culture has led us to believe that this is just the way life is. Instead of reaching for God’s Word, we find ourselves reaching for the bottle, a pill, anything to distract us from how we feel.

Maybe you're desperately trying to win God’s favor by doing all of the spiritual things. Checking the boxes each day, like the combination to a safe, we read the Bible, pray, obey God, and be kind…but constantly feel like we come up short.

We can’t earn God’s favor; we can only receive it. It’s not something we can do on our own.

Think about a child who is trying to tie their shoes, put a puzzle together, or ride a bike. So often they want to do it without any help. They think they're grown up, and they want to show it! However, they lack the knowledge and experience to do it correctly the very first time. It may take hours or days of practice with an adult standing by their side; but if they don’t surrender control, they will never learn to do it at all. We can’t make them let us help.

God won't make us do it either. He won’t take what we refuse to release. If we continue to hold onto control of our lives, we may never receive all that He has to offer us, and our burdens may never be light. (Matthew 11:30)

We must surrender our need for control and allow God to work on our behalf. It is only then that we can find true peace and rest.

JOURNAL: Is there an area in your life that you have been unable to surrender to God? How has holding onto control over this area made you feel? If there is more than one area, share that as well.

ACTIVATION/PRAYER: Surrender control over these areas and ask God to have His way in each one of them. Ask Him to help you to relinquish the instinctive need to control the situations in your life and give them to Him as a first response, and not a last resort.
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