Church Volume Two: A 9-Day Devotional by Jesus CultureSample

Lean Back – Chris McClarney 

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

In a world where everything moves so quickly, making time for rest can seem impossible. We often go through the motions of our daily lives without even stopping to think that many of the activities we partake in drain us both physically and mentally. When we think of rest, many of us imagine laying down for a quick nap and then immediately jumping back into our busy schedules. Although this routine may support us for a short amount of time, after a while it becomes impossible to support our physical and spiritual health. We become not only physically tired, but we may even begin to drift away from God as we feel unmotivated to dive into the Word and keep up with our prayer and worship.

C.S. Lewis describes our lives as playing out in a series of hills and valleys. When our lives are in the “hill” areas, we’re at our best. But, when we’re at our best, the devil most wants to bring us down and we are attacked. This could be a spiritual attack such as doubts in our faith, temptation, death, etc., and we fall into the “valley” areas. When we enter those valley areas, we lack motivation and trust in God as we are faced with even more struggles that continue to try to tear us down. It is in those valley moments when we most need God and His incomparable rest.

One of the biggest reasons that Christ followers have so much trouble going to God to receive rest is that they assume that to receive it, they have to do something in return. Because our world can be so starved of generosity, many cannot fathom the idea that something can simply be given to someone else without any prompting. God’s rest is so beautiful in the way that it extends to everyone who is willing to receive. Matthew 11 tells us that all we have to do is come to God with an open heart and open arms to receive what He is willing to give to us. God, just as He sent His son to receive the burden of our sin on the cross, receives the burden of our exhaustion, and does it completely willingly. As Christians, we have a source of rest that never waivers, is constantly faithful to us, and provides what we need. When we lean back into the Lord and accept His love and His rest, we experience a new form of renewal that gives us more than enough strength to persevere through even the most difficult of times. It is through God’s willingness to support all who seek Him that shows how loving of a God He is. The love of God is not one that requires prompting, and even though we turn away from God, His love never waivers and never fails. It truly is the most beautiful love imaginable. Lean Back is a reminder that we have a loving Father that we can run to in our times of need—a friend who will never leave, who found us while we were still sinners and extended grace we didn’t deserve. When we sing this song we remind ourselves that God is so much bigger than our problems and that we can truly lean back in His arms and rest in the knowledge that He is living and good, and that He is able to overcome even the darkest of nights.