Trusting God Brings Us Into His Rest

Wed teaching

 

Trusting God brings us into His rest.

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you;

He will never allow the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22

“Cast your burden on the Lord {release the weight of it}

and He will sustain you {uphold you}; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken {slip, fall, or fail}.”  Amplified Bible

“your burden” = your lot assigned to you. Challenges, issues within your family.

“Cast” – to throw, hurl, or fling away from you. Releasing the weight of the burden.

We often live with a heavy heart and a burdened mind. God is inviting us to a better life that is experienced by putting our trust in Him.

Noah Webster said that trust is a resting of the mind.

Hebrew 4  tells us those who believe or trust God will enter His rest.

Ill. One of the ways I know I am truly trusting in God and not just trying to trust Him, is my soul is resting in God’s faithfulness. If I say I am trusting God but still worrying – then I have not cast my burden on the Lord. It is more than words – it is weight that lifts off of me and brings my soul rest.

          The problem is more than likely still there. You may still have to deal with it – but the heaviness is lifted from your soul. You continue functioning and doing what you have to do, but the stress of the burden making your life difficult is not weighing heavy on you.

          I know what it is like to say you trust God, yet you are still weighed down with many cares, still worrying, still afraid, and still miserable. I think the best thing to do is to be honest with God and yourself. He already knows the truth and will help you.

“Lord, I know I am supposed to trust You with my burden. I want to, but I have not been able to totally trust you with this. You know it and I know it. Will You please help me release the weight of my burden upon You. Show me how to put my trust You. In Jesus’s name.”

ill. In Mark 9 a father sought healing for his son. He told Jesus he believed, but he needed help for his unbelief. He was honest and he received his miracle.

-        We all are learning to trust God with some burden. It should not be hard because God is 100% trustworthy. But it still hard sometimes for us to trust Him. God knows this and is working with us to help us trust Him.

Ill. Like the man carrying a backpack of heavy rocks on his back and walking down the road. A man with a horse and wagon offers in him a ride. He gets on the wagon and keeps the backpack on. The driver of the wagon says, why don’t you take off that heavy backpack? The man says, ‘O, no I couldn’t do that. You were nice enough to give me a ride and I couldn’t ask you to carry my burden too! It makes no sense to trust the Lord with your salvation but not be able to trust Him with your burden.

This is like trusting the Lord but staying weighed down with burdens and cares.

Ill. One thing that might help is take some time and make a list of some times you have experienced God’s faithfulness in your own life.

-        God took care of us when . . .

-        God protected us when . . .

Why not make a list either mentally or write them down now like this:

My weights/burdens that are weighing heavily on me:

1.   Concern for a family member.

2.   Financial issues.

3.   Your health issues.

4.   Care for a loved one.

5.    

“Cast your burden on the Lord {release the weight of it}

and He will sustain you {uphold you}; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken {slip, fall, or fail}.”  Amplified Bible

Take a few moments and just talk to God about this and ask Him to help you now to release the weight of this burden off of you.

You will know that you are trusting God when your mind is able to rest and you have confidence that God has got it.  How will God help you? We don’t know all the ways, but He delights in surprising us as we put things into His hands and safekeeping.

According to scripture we are in partnership with God:

“God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, true to His promise, and can be depended on); by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.” I Cor. 1:9 Amp.

A relationship with God is more than reading the Bible every morning.

He gave us the Holy Spirit who is called the Helper. He expects us to call on Him for help.

There are things in your life you feel responsible to “fix” but you have no idea what to do about them. There may be relationships to fix but you don’t know how to do it. Here is where you cast your burden on the Lord like this:

“Father, I put my relationship with ­­­________ into Your hands. I commit it to You and ask that You make it what You want it to be. In Jesus’ name, amen.” ­­­

It is not wonder people are stressed out. Unless they know how to trust God and release the weight of their burdens on Him, they will wear out eventually.

Mental exhaustion affects physical health. The mind needs the rests so the body can rest and heal.

“Come to Me all ye that labor and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest.”  Mtt. 11:28

What did Jesus do when He had a situation that would be classified as “trouble”? We have many examples of how He handled such situations. He prayed to His Father. Even when He felt abandoned by God while He was on the cross He prayed, “Father, into Thy hands I commit My Spirit.”  = He trusted God.

God expects us to trust Him and learn to trust Him more!

What if God does not do what I am trusting Him to do for me?

          A perfect example of this is Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane.

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but (always) Yours be done.”  Luke 22:42

Sometimes we don’t know what God’s will is about something. A good way to think and pray is:

“Lord, I want what You want for me, even if I don’t know what that is!”

Getting our own way is highly overrated! Only God’s will ultimately satisfies us.

When we are young we think getting what we want is the most important thing in life. But as we grow older hopefully we learn to say, “I want God’s will more than I want my own will.’

God’s will is better than our will! We are created with free will and we can run our own lives for what we want, but thankfully we have another option, and that is to trust in the goodness of God. Isaiah said it this way:

“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. .” Isaiah 9:7

The more we let God govern our lives, the more peace we will enjoy.

Trusting God brings us into His rest.

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