rest

Apr

2026

The Lord leads me to life that lasts forever

On the church year calendar, this Sunday is Good Shepherd Sunday. I’ll share here a story that I wrote to illustrate a truth from the Good Shepherd psalm—Psalm 23. If you’d like to read more, you can find additional commentary and other stories in The Lord Cares for Me: Stories and Thoughts about Psalm 23. The book is available in Kindle e-book edition or also paperback.

The LORD is my shepherd. He gives me everything I need. (Psalm 23:1)

**********

The story of Larry

Larry struggled in school. He had a hard time remembering things. He passed his classes in high school, but his grades were below average. Larry’s parents were in poor health and did not have great jobs. They struggled to make ends meet. Larry could not have afforded university tuition, and he doubted he’d get accepted by most colleges.

Larry ended up at the community college, where classes were cheaper. He got a two-year degree which helped him get a job with a heating and air conditioning company. That went well for a while, but during a slump in the nation’s economy, the company went out of business. Larry found himself out of work. He had a series of odd jobs over the next few years. Most were temporary or seasonal positions. Finally, he landed a full-time job at the local meat-packing plant. The work was a chore, but the pay was good. Larry was able to save up for the down payment on a house.

Larry never got married. He was awkward and shy about talking to people. He lived alone in the small house he had bought … until his father died. Then his mother came to live with him, and Larry cared for her. A year or so later his mother also died. So now, in his forties, Larry was alone and barely keeping ahead of house payments and medical bills that he had taken on for his mother in her last months.

Then the meat-packing plant got new owners. The new owners had new ideas on how to run the plant. They fired a large number of the full-time workers and hired people for part-time and temporary positions instead. The new bosses were great at cutting costs to the company—but this also cost people like Larry their jobs and security. Larry had no success finding another solid job. He collected unemployment checks for as long as he could, but eventually that money ran out.

Larry lost his house. He couldn’t make the monthly payments anymore. He rented a small apartment, but soon couldn’t even afford that. Larry was now 50 years old and homeless. He found a sheltered spot under a railroad bridge where he set up camp for himself. He wondered what he would do when winter came.

An old stray dog kept coming around Larry’s campsite. Though he didn’t have much food, Larry always shared some with the dog, whom he decided to call Rufus. Larry was glad to have the little bit of companionship that Rufus provided. It was about all he had left.

Larry did have one other thing left—something which he’d had with him through all the years, in good times or bad. Larry had his Bible. It was nearly worn out from daily use over the years. Larry treasured the book and kept it wrapped in plastic when not using it, to keep it from getting wet or damaged.

Larry read a chapter in the Bible every day. Lately he’d been reading several chapters a day. He marked verses that really grabbed his heart. He held onto God’s promises with all his heart. He believed the Bible’s promises that God was watching over him no matter how life looked. He knew God was preparing a place in heaven for him and for all those who trust in Jesus.

Sometimes Larry would flip through his Bible and reread favorite verses that he had marked, verses like …

Come to me, all of you who are tired and are carrying heavy loads. I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).
The LORD gives strength to those who are tired. He gives power to those who are weak (Isaiah 40:29).
Can trouble or hard times or harm or hunger separate us from God’s love? … Nothing at all can ever separate us from God’s love because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done (Romans 8:35,39).
“Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus said. “There are many rooms in my Father’s house. … I will take you to be with me. Then you will also be where I am” (John 14:1-3).

Larry longed to go and live with Jesus in the Father’s house in heaven. Life on earth was hard.

Winter came, and Larry hadn’t found steady work or a place to live. He slept in homeless shelters at night, but would go back to his campsite during the day to check on Rufus and bring him food that he collected from garbage cans. Larry had built a doghouse for Rufus out of stones and old bricks, lining it with torn blankets.

One afternoon, Larry brought Rufus some steak bones he’d found in the trash behind a restaurant. The temperature that day was in the low 40s, so Larry spent the afternoon with Rufus. While the dog chewed happily on the steak bones, Larry sat reading his Bible and praying for the Lord to see him through, no matter how hard things got. Rufus snuggled up next to Larry. Larry was tired and fell asleep. As night fell, a cold front blew harsh winds. Temperatures dropped into single digits. Rufus crawled into his doghouse to get out of the wind. Larry didn’t wake up. He froze to death that night.

The Lord whom Larry loved had not abandoned him. Larry had prayed for the Lord to see him through life, and that’s just what Jesus did. Jesus carried Larry through all the days of his life, holding him extra close on the hardest days. And he carried Larry on into eternal life when life had worn him out.

Larry’s most favorite Bible verse of all was Psalm 23:6 — I am sure that your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. And I will live in the house of the LORD forever. Surely God’s goodness and love had been with Larry every step of the way. And now he is living in the heavenly Father’s house. Never again will Larry be homeless. He is forever at home with Jesus.

**********

Additional commentary on the story available in The Lord Cares for Me: Stories and Thoughts about Psalm 23.

Dec

2019

Are you tired?

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on September 24, 2016.

Are you tired?

by Mary Meyer

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

So often, I’m so tired. Between school and work, I chase from one task to another and get worn out. Have you ever been so tired that you couldn’t keep your eyes open, no matter how hard you tried? Doctors say that kids anywhere from the ages of 6-13 need about 9-11 hours of sleep. Teenagers need 8-10 hours, and adults need 7-9 hours (Mayo Clinic). When we don’t get that amount of sleep in a night, our bodies feel weak and tired. When we are overtired, we turn to our beds, cuddle up with a blanket and drift into dreamy sleep.

There’s another kind of tired, though, that sleep alone can’t cure. When Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened” (Matthew 11:28), he wasn’t talking so much about being physically tired, but about being mentally, emotionally and spiritually exhausted. That happens to us because of how sin-burdened our whole world is (cf. Romans 8:22-24). When life in this world is wearing us down, Jesus calls out to us, inviting us into his open arms. “I will give you rest,” he said (Matthew 11:28). When a nap isn’t enough, Jesus wraps us up in his love. We don’t need to worry about the big science test coming up, or be frustrated by obstacles in life that make us feel overwhelmed. We have God’s constant promises. We have his powerful hand reassuring us that he will always take care of us. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32)? When we are sick, when we have committed a sin, when we are just plain tired of our busy lives, Jesus is there as our spiritual resting place. He tells us that he loves us, he forgives us, and that he will have his hand on our shoulders in every time of need.

The next time you feel that things are getting too hard or that your body aches with tiredness, fold your hands, bow your head, and rely on Christ’s all-encompassing love to comfort you. Jesus cares for you. In him always you will find the rest that you need.

Prayer:
Dear Savior, lift us up when we feel weak, give us comfort when we feel burdened, and give us rest when we feel tired. We know that you care about us and our needs, because you died under the weight of all our sins and rose again to bring us back to life. Help us to feel awake and free, so that we may sing your praise forever. Amen.

Dec

2019

Burdened no more

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on August 2, 2016. Kristen wrote this devotion in connection with a workshop on Devotional Writing that I led that summer.

Burdened no more

by Kristen Koepsell

Recently I read about a woman who hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1950. Modern long-distance hikers disagree whether more or less gear is best. Imagine hiking with someone there only to carry your stuff. You don’t have to carry anything. No rubbing straps, sore shoulders, pressured spine, tired body from the extra weight, regret of every unnecessary thing packed. …

That is us. We carry nothing. We walk free and tall, with light step and heart, because our Savior daily bears our burdens.

What’s weighing you down today? If you hefted a backpack that held one rock for every concern on your heart, what would those rocks be? May I share mine? I’m responsible for 171 kids and 87 volunteers next week at Vacation Bible School, and the task list is outpacing the hours left. My online class requires three revised devotions and one brand-new by Saturday. My brother and sister-in-law just changed states without job plans. My best friend cries because her marriage is cracking. My mother is diabetic. Bible camp might be cancelled due to lack of interest. Two Sunday school teachers just quit. The refrigerator is nearly empty. My Bible reading is nonexistent. One of my turn signals is out. And I’m still single.

Two things answer this weight.

One, Jesus shouldered our sin for us, the root of human burdens. When I cry, “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear,” (Psalm 38:4), the Holy Spirit answers, “He himself bore [your] sins in his body on the cross.” (1 Peter 2:24). Every day as we collect more burdens of sin, Jesus says, “No, I’ll take that. That one’s mine, and that one….”
Two, he does not carry only our sin, leaving us to carry the “smaller” issues. He doesn’t say, “I’ll take care of Mom but you have to handle VBS.” The God who sees a sparrow fall and counts our very hairs also shoulders every one of our day-to-day concerns. “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens” (Psalm 68:19).

I pray that each day you can praise God your Savior, living with light heart and mind. He is carrying the weight. You are burdened no more.

Then use his strength to assist others, to carry each other’s burdens when you can (cf. Galatians 6:2), but ultimately to extend the invitation: “Come to [him], you who are…burdened, and he will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Are you tired?

Burdened no more

Subscribe