Come All Who Are Weary
I woke up really early one morning last week with this song in my head:
Come, all who are weary,
I will give you rest.
Come, all who are striving
Lean upon my breast.
For my yoke is easy,
and my burden light.
Oh, come all who are weary, come.
I lay there, wondering at what felt like an early morning invitation. It got me out of bed, curious to find what God had for me at that early hour.
I know this song is based on Matthew 11, verses that mean much to me, especially in light of the past couple of weeks.
Those weeks had been rather rough. Let me tell you about them.
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The morning after his afternoon bike ride, my husband couldn’t find his billfold. He realized he had forgotten to take it out of his truck when he got home, but when he went out to look for it, it was gone.
In a bit of a panic, we looked everywhere. Reviewing his actions from the day before, we thought through every possible scenario.
We could conclude only one thing: IT HAD BEEN STOLEN!
We immediately checked our credit card online, and sure enough, we found an entry we didn’t recognize. So we immediately canceled our credit card and ordered new ones while canceling and reordering our debit cards. Within a few days, my husband renewed his driver’s license and ordered a new medicare card. What else was in that wallet?
I found myself hyperfocusing on that billfold. It seemed to be stolen, but it didn’t make sense to me.
Logically, it could have happened. But it just didn’t feel right.
Later that week, we realized the credit card had NOT been misused.
So I prayed. I mean, I really prayed:
“God, You know where that billfold is.
Would you please return it to us?
Was it stolen, or is it lost? “
I searched and re-searched. I looked through the garden, near where the truck was parked. I drove through the parking lot near the bike trail. I searched the truck, all the while talking anxiously to God. Since he knew where the billfold was, would he please show me?
I grew weary in the search, so I tried to think of possible scenarios. Maybe a mom would find it in her teenager’s room and make him/her march back to our house and return it. Maybe the police would show up and tell us someone found it and turned it in. Maybe someone found it and would mail it to us. Maybe I’d find it in the garage. Maybe I’d find it in the garden.
(I’m rather embarrassed to say that I think I was giving God some ideas for how to get that thing back to us.)
In my early morning prayers on the day the billfold disappeared, I had prayed,
“Jesus, I long for greater stamina in my prayer life. Would you give me a new perseverance in my prayers?”
(Honestly! I found these words in my prayer journal!)
What did I think would happen? Instant stamina? Perseverance in a moment?
No, for perseverance to grow in me, I guess I needed something concrete that I felt passionate about.
God offered me an answer to my journaled prayer while I was asking for an answer to a different prayer: please help us find that wallet!!
During those weeks, God led me to some powerful scriptures.
The Lord hears when I call to him. (Psalm 4)
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. (Is. 26:3)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding… (Prov 3:5-6)
And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:10
God says to Solomon, Ask for whatever you want me to give you! (I was tempted to say, I want that wallet. But I withheld that request and asked for bigger things like direction, passion, and a blessing on my writing. (He certainly answered my desire for passion !!)
So every day God answered my “prayer beneath the prayer.”
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When I pray, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, what am I asking of the KING of the universe?
And do I truly want his will, or am I only interested in mine?
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These are important questions, ones I am pondering in prayer. I’m asking for a true desire to want only what he wants for me and to accept his answer as the best one for me.
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The next time Brian got ready to go biking, 18 days after the last bike ride, I walked out with him, encouraging him to pay attention to his stuff and make sure he had everything when he came home.
For some reason, I walked around to the passenger side of the truck and opened the back seat door.
And there it was.
That billfold was sitting under the back seat on the opposite side of the truck from where Brian usually hides it in his locked truck when he's biking.
For all of those 18 days, that wallet was safe.
I picked it up, and we danced right there in the driveway, topping our joy with a hug and a kiss.
God did know where that wallet was. I knew it!
And he answered my passionate pleas with a big yes from his huge heart.
I imagined him smiling, knowing I had bigger lessons to ponder than finding that wallet.
And in his generous, loving kindness, he offered both.
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I had some thoughts after the wallet search was over.
Why was I so anxious about this lost wallet?
Why was I so passionate about this billfold vs. deeper, more dangerous, heartfelt issues of this day? Why not deep and insistent prayer for my friend who is praying now for just the right job? How about asking for relief of the intense stress some of our loved ones feel? Some are struggling with health issues - those very near to me! Where is my insistent pounding on the door of God’s heart?
To be clear, I do pray for these things. I’m just waking up to intensity and a deeper search for answers.
Charles Spurgeon writes: “Those who do not plead with fervency do not plead at all!” “
The true petitioner gathers force as he proceeds and grows more fervent when God delays to answer.
The longer the gate is closed, the louder the knocking becomes;
and the longer the angel lingers, the more determined he becomes to never let him go without the blessing.”
Wow. I realize my prayer personality, being rather subdued, has some revving up to do!
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Brian Morykon, Director of Communications at Renovare, writes:
“The reality of the Kingdom of God is why Jesus could fall asleep on the boat while the storm raged on. When his scared friends woke him up, and he calmed the storm and said, “Why are you so afraid?” he was saying, Whether you live or die, you’re safe with me in the unshakable Kingdom of God.”
My “lost wallet” scenario is slight and insignificant in light of some of the much bigger, life-altering situations of people I know.
But this was a lesson for me. God hears all our prayers - the small ones and the ones we feel would be a miracle if answered the way we want.
But here’s the thing:
What is the prayer beneath all these prayers?
I think the real prayer that needs to be answered is: Do I trust you, God, even if you don’t answer the way I want you to?
Do I believe that no matter what happens, I am safe with you in the unshakable Kingdom of God?
Can I say, “ I trust YOU, my King, Master of the Universe, and my loving, gentle Father?”
I truly want to.
So, I keep asking him to increase my faith, my focus, and my perseverance in prayer.
I keep asking him to help me choose to trust, however he answers, knowing it is what is best for me.
He is able, and who am I to question him or the answers he graciously gives?
I think the answer is found in the song at the beginning of this writing, taken from Matthew 11:28:
“Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Rest from anxiety. Rest from fear. Rest from unbelief. Rest from dreaming up bad scenarios.
He gives rest. He gives security. He is the best one to have in the boat because, no matter what, we are safe in the unshakeable Kingdom of God,
even if our wallet gets lost and is never, ever found again.
Journaling questions:
Do I trust God?
Even when he doesn’t do what I ask, or he lingers in answering, do I trust God?
What am I waiting and trusting him for today?
There was a time when God said no. How did I react?
I remember a time when God said yes. How did I react?
Write a prayer, confess, and then tell God how you want to react next time. Ask Him to answer by enabling you to trust him. It will bring you great joy to find that trust builds as you earnestly desire it.
Envision the “unshakeable Kingdom of God” and settle, with a solid thankfulness, into the security He brings. Why are we so afraid?