God's Refreshment

After arriving at our church as its new minister back in 1992, Ginny Caesar presented me with a beautiful cross-stitch picture she made and framed of an eagle flying through the sky with mountains and trees in the background. Ginny, who passed away three years ago, was one of our dear, faithful Christian women of the church who taught Sunday school, VBS, and was involved in serving in so many ways. If there was a Bible study or worship service, Ginny was there. Her cross-stitch picture was inspired by one of my favorite Bible texts from the prophet Isaiah.
 
Isaiah 40:28-31 says, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
​
God’s refreshment is available to us, and it gives us an inner peace. Knowing that we will rest well at the end of the journey brings us peace in the midst of the journey we’re on. It’s not always comfortable or easy right now. It’s kind of like when you break your leg, and the doctor tells you that you’re going to have to wear a cast. You feel depressed about the thought of having to be on crutches. You don’t like the thought that you’re not going to be able to bend your leg for a while. But then the doctor tells you the cast will come off in six weeks. That gives you something to look forward to. It gives you light at the end of the tunnel. You can focus on the future when the cast will be removed. And, so, when it’s driving you crazy with the weight, and you’re about fed up with the clumsiness of taking a bath or shower and having to keep it dry, and when there’s that itch you can’t scratch and so you straighten out a wire hanger and slide it down between the cast and your leg, you’re remembering that it comes off in six weeks. It doesn’t bother you quite as much, because you know there is an end in sight to all the hassle of having on a cast.
 
That’s kind of how it is when you find your rest in God: you are able to have inner peace because you know your final destination is heaven. What you’re going through right now, if life is tough, isn’t the end of the story. You focus on the hope and promise of your future destination, not just on the tiredness and struggle you’re experiencing right now.
 
Summertime is a great time to rest and be refreshed…just don’t leave God out of the picture.
Tyler