Tuesday 2 May - A Guide to Finding Rest for Your Soul

Read Psalm 23:1-6. Do you suffer from hurry sickness? John Ortberg suggests some tests to decide. If, when you drive towards a red stop light and two lanes of traffic, you calculate, based on the make, model, and age of the two cars in front of you to decide which one is going to move off quicker, then you are suffering from hurry sickness! Likewise, if you have two queues at the supermarket and you calculate which one you think is going to move faster, and join that one, but keep a beady eye on the person in the other queue who would have been you, you have hurry sickness!

There is no doubt the pace of modern society appears to be getting faster and faster. We’re overworked, maxed out even on leisure activities, and many of us feel permanently exhausted.

That’s not what Jesus wants for us. He wants us to find contentment and refreshment. The Good Shepherd knows where the green meadows are. He knows where to find the peaceful streams. We simply need to follow him to find the restoration we need.

A lot of the hurry and worry in our lives stems from trying to go our own way and do our own thing. But that’s against our own best interests!

So, relax. Let go. Learn to rest. Learn the “unforced rhythms of grace” (Matthew 11:29 MSG). Go the Shepherd’s way and live in the goodness of God.

Think It Over

Think about the following:

Why do you think we value overworking so much in society?