The Daily Task, Part Two

The day begins with our submission. It continues with our rest.

The longer we’ve been serving, the more often we hear of rest in terms of “retreat.” You know what I mean. We might call it “quiet time” or “Sabbath” or something else. The longer we’ve been serving, however, the less confident I am that I have really known what this means.

Now don’t get me wrong—I don’t think these periods of respite are bad things. They are definitely essential times. The Good Teacher models this pattern for us again and again (ex. Lk. 5:16, 6:12, 9:10). But therein lies the rub. What I find, many times, is that our ideal for rest is not the same as His.

I love “quiet time.” Give me a cup of coffee, the Word, and a few hours alone, and I’m set. Throw in some good tunes and that’s even better.

But if the day is for submission, then even my “quiet time” must be subject to His will. When the Good Teacher went away to pray, he was often pursued by his disciples or by huge crowds. If you read the beginning of Luke 9, it appears that he was decided upon intentionally taking his followers “away” for a bit. When they got to the little town of Bethsaida, a huge crowd followed him there. If I were him, I probably would be thinking, “Ugh. What’s wrong with these people? I need my quiet time. I need my rest.”

Instead, it says that he “welcomed them.”

Here’s the point. Our rest is not in a cup of coffee on a quiet morning to ourselves. It is in the grace of the Father, alone. And how do we lay hold of this grace?

Yup. Submission wins again.

More and more I am finding that my rest is not contingent upon what I am doing or where. I love meeting the Father in solitude. I think all of us are called to that place. At the same time, I love meeting the Father somewhere else: in absolute chaos.

I hate chaos. Don’t think for a minute that I like disruptions or trials. I don’t like them in the least. But here’s what I’m discovering: when I submit the day to the Father, he gives me rest—even in the midst of chaos.

If I have submitted all things to him today, he promises to give me rest (Mt. 11:28). In that rest—here’s the kicker—I am enabled to do all things. I can enter a time of solitude “the right way” because I have already submitted myself to his will and his promise of rest. I can enter any work or labor with strength and joy because in submitting the day to him I have received the promise of his rest, and I am fit to do it for any length of time and under any amount of strain.

This is the meaning of “Abide in me”: in submission is our rest, and in our rest, rather than our strength, he will do great things.

Today may we submit all things to the will of our Father, and may we walk in the rest he has prepared for us, both in the blessedness of communion in solitude and the blessedness of service in the chaos of the world.

“You prepare a table for me

In the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup overflows.”

Psalm 23:5

-Ryan