As children of God,the promise of rest for our souls belongs to us. We’re familiar with Jesus’ invitation to the weary and the burdened. Many can quote the passage. Why is it then that so few are experiencing this rest? Perhaps we’ll see a parallel in the following story.
A new orphanage opened up in some 3rd world country. They went into the cities and rescued dozens of children who were living on the street, starving to death. They took them in, gave them food, clothes, and a safe, warm bed. But they noticed that the children were not sleeping at night. Why not? They figured out that the children were afraid to go to sleep because they might wake up in the morning and there would be no bread. Its how they’d always lived. They didn’t know any other way. How could they convince the children to rest secure and confident that they would be provided for? So here’s what they did. Before the children went to bed every night, they gave them a piece of bread to hold in their hand—not to eat, but as their assurance that when they woke up in the morning, they would have bread. You know what? It worked. The children began sleeping.
Are we like the children in that orphanage? We’ve been rescued from a worldly existence. We now have a Heavenly Father who has promised to meet our physical needs and give us rest for our souls. But we are still fretful and anxious that somehow our needs will not be met. We don’t trust in God’s provision for tomorrow. Is there something to put in our hand so that we will rest secure and confident in God’s promise? Yes, God’s Word is our assurance. It is the history of God’s faithfulness, and it gives us all the affirmations we will ever need. God’s Word is our piece of bread.
And of course it is called The Bread of Life! Thank you for this reminder!!
What a perfect analogy of how “He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” 2 Peter 1:4 His promises are our Bread to hang onto during the long dark night of life.
And the WORD became flesh…(John 1) —And was born in Bethlehem WHICH MEANS “House of Bread” . Great analogy Janet. Holy Cow. How do you think of these things? You are anointed. For sure. Thank you for encouraging us all. I know what it is to be crazy busy in life and yet you are taking all this time to keep encouraging us—giving us FREEBO advice and ideas and illustrations to further the commitment we memorizers have made to hold tightly to that bread as we drift off to sleep and as we go along in our daily life.
Hi Cherie, I do want to keep encouraging all those who read the blog. It is such a joy for me to have subscribers and readers who want to learn and grow. Just so you know, I do not come up with fresh blog ideas every day. Many blog posts I take right out of my book, or one of my conferences. This past weekend I did a Ladies Retreat and our theme was AN INVITATION TO REST. The text that I was teaching from is Mt 11:28-30 “Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest …” I took Monday’s blog from one part of the conference. Tomorrow’s blog will also come from that same conference. This system is much easier for me because I really don’t have time to come up with something new every few days.
Regardless of where you pull your own illustrations/inspirations from, I am genuinely grateful for them posted here in this blog. It is a way I can be encouraged in my insanely busy life. Thank you Janet.
That’s how I feel, like an orphan clinging to His precious words of life while in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, hoping to share the splendor of His riches with others. What a great encouragement you are, Janet!! Thank you for opening His treasurer box to us.