Day 15 - Week 3 Day1 Let Your Heart Rest

Today's reading

Genesis 24:61 - End of 25

Psalms 14

Isaiah 12 - 13:5

Matthew 11

Thought for today (sorry but this is heavy)

Today my heart is heavy.  I couldn't sleep well.  I figured that I may as well get up and do my morning reading and blog post.  So much is going on this world!  So much death.  So much war.  I long for what we read about yesterday of the eventual peace that will be in God's Kingdom.  In Psalm 14 from today's reading, we read "The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."  They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good...They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one."  This is a Psalm of David, Israel's great king who God describes as a man after His own heart.  I think it's because David always wore his heart on his sleeve.  He was real and you see it in the Psalms he wrote.  

My heart is heavy because I see what is happening primarily in the US but is also showing itself in Canada and around the world.  It seems racism is acceptable as long as you are Christian and you are being racist in name of God.  Hate towards the LGBTQ+ community is acceptable as long as Christians are spreading hate in the name of God, and women are being told to take a back seat to men and stay at home to have babies.  In General, it's as if anyone who does not fit the mold of white, right wing, straight Christian is not welcome.  Christians are mixing up Christ's Kingdom which is not of this world (John 18:36) for Christian Nationalism, doing exactly opposite of Jesus teaching.  No wonder the world says "There is no God."  This is why I refer to myself as a "Jesus follower" rather than a "Christian".

I am so thankful for Matthew 11:28-30.  Jesus says, "Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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".  This is the Jesus whom I love and follow.

"Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest".  

Take that in and let it resonate in your heart.  Let Jesus give you the rest you need.  You don't need to carry guilt if that's what is causing you lack of peace.  Grieve if you need to grieve, cry if you need to cry; let Jesus do a work in your heart and give your heart rest.

I follow a person on Facebook, Bluesky and X who's name is Benjamin Cremer.  He posted a prayer online for the woman in Minneapolis, Minnesota who was shot to death by an ICE agent.  If your heart is broken for the injustice of this world, why not pray this prayer.  If you are currently not a Jesus follower, that's ok, pray it anyway.  If you can, pray it out loud.  Let the forces of darkness know where you stand.

God of mercy and justice,

We come to You with heavy hearts, words catching in our throats, grief pressing on our chests. We lament the death of Renee Good, a life taken by violence, a life that mattered, a life now mourned by family, friends, and a shaken community. Receive her into Your everlasting care, O God, and draw near to all who are broken by this loss.

We’ve witnessed terror inflicted upon our immigrant brothers and sisters.

We’ve witnessed our friends who came to serve our immigrant brothers and sisters and protest their mistreatment met with brutality instead of being heard.

We’ve witnessed families ripped apart, due process ignored, children zip-tied, and human dignity stripped away.

And now this, another death, another wound, another reason to cry out from the depths. It is too much for our weary souls to bear.

How long will the strong trample the vulnerable?

How long will power be wielded without accountability, authority without compassion?

Are we only to wait for the next tragedy to endure, the next name to grieve, the next neighbor to be lost?

You are the God who hears the cries of the oppressed.

You heard the groans of the enslaved in Egypt.

You heard the lament of the psalmists who asked these same questions.

Hear us now.

We confess our exhaustion, our anger, our fear, our despair. We confess that sometimes hope feels thin, that justice feels distant. Yet even here, especially here, we refuse to believe that violence and death will have the final word.

Breathe Your peace into communities living in fear.

Shield the vulnerable.

Comfort the grieving.

Convict those who abuse power.

Stir the conscience of leaders and systems that have lost their way.

We will continue to do this work we ask of you as well, O God.

We will not stop praying.

We will not stop loving and serving our neighbors.

We will persist.

We will lament and protest and plead.

We will cry out for justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

We will stand with the brokenhearted and refuse to look away.

Until restoration comes

until mercy triumphs,

until dignity is honored,

until swords are beaten into plowshares and fear no longer governs our streets, we will continue to work and we will keep calling on Your name.

How long, O Lord?

As long as it takes.

Please, move quickly, God of justice and hope.

Amen.

If todays post has touched you in any way, please comment or if you just want to share your heart with me, send me an email to steve.d.pauls@gmail.com

Thanks for reading today!

Steve