I love Matthew 11:28-30 - "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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." Recently I found a song by Jamie Grace based on these verses that I really like. Part of the lyrics go like this - "Had Your arms open and a warmth in Your eyes,You took my hand and You whispered, 'Come to Me, when you're weary and I'll give you hope when you're hurtin, I'll give you rest from your burden.'" This is such a good reminder to me that Jesus longs for me to come to Him and find rest. So often I find myself so weighed down with burdens the Lord never intended for me to carry, and instead of coming to Jesus, I fret and worry and rely on my own understanding of things.
Today, as I was spending time with the Lord, I read some verses that remind me that Jesus can give me rest and satisfy me:
"For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes." Jeremiah 31:25
"Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst." John 6:35
"Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" John 7:37-38
"but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." John 4:14
"The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost." Revelation 22:17
I love that Jesus says "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink." He is the Living Water, and He is the only One in whom we can find true refreshment and rest.
I have been trying to get better about drinking my water every day - water is something I know I really need to drink and yet so often a coffee or a glass of milk sounds so much better. Even though coffee and milk taste really good to me, I know that in order to stay healthy, I really need to be drinking my water daily. Today I thought of how just as my physical body needs water to thrive, so too my spirit needs Jesus (the Living Water) to thrive. Just as I need to be sure to drink my water each day for my physical body, I need to continually come to Jesus each day to find refreshment for my spirit.
Every day there are so many distractions that threaten to take my eyes off of Jesus. Oh how I long to always come to Jesus, to not just spend my time with Him so that I can get on with my day, but to really sit at His feet and let Him refresh me and give me the rest that I so desperately need. May we all daily come to Jesus, find rest in Him, lay our worries at His feet, and find refreshment.
"All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of His mercy
As deep cries out to deep..."
