Weary One, God Is Still at Work in You

Dear weary one,

You may feel as if nothing is worthwhile any longer. You may feel that God is absence or disappointed in you. Perhaps you feel like a messier mess than anyone else alive!

Sometimes our feelings simply do not line up with the truth. We seem to feel nothing at all. Other times, we find we’ve been trying to earn our place in God when He has already put us there by His sacrifice. And even if you truly are a mess, God is a redeemer. He loves to turn every mess into something of worth.

God gives beauty for ashes. Things that seem worthless, He transforms like gold. What seems like the end of us, He turns into a testimony that helps others too.

Like a potter with clay, the Lord is molding and shaping us. He seals our hearts with untainted love, and we find we are never alone even when others are absent. This process in the journey can be painful, but will cause us to feel fully alive.

We need not fear His hand upon us. Christ’s nearness is our good. All that’s left to do is to say “yes” to Him. As we do even the pain of His “fire” freeing us from the negative things that afflict us will be a welcome help.

Burnt by Religious Legalism

Perhaps as you read this, you feel like walking away. You’ve been burnt by religion, church hurt or legalistic ways—striving to earn your way to God. Or maybe you’re turned off of just hearing about God.

Legalistic religion can be a terrible task master, and this is not Christ’s heart toward us. He desires a heart connection, a relationship with us that is ever growing, not our performance and perfection.

He calls the weary to come to Him, to learn of Him and experience His rest; in this call, He also calls Himself gentle and humble (Matt. 11:28-30). He’s not out to work you to the bone or expecting perfection. He knows you cannot be perfect anyway, and that’s why He gave His life for our sins in our place.

Give Jesus, not man’s ideas of Him and His ways, a new chance. Only He has the answers you seek in everything. He alone has the fulfillment and stress-ending peace we all need.

He Is Working All Things for Good

Listen though: When things go wrong, it doesn’t mean it’s His doing. In fact, when we start to pursue Him, the devil may try to stir up things in attempts to get us to blame God and give up altogether.

God gives beauty for ashes. Things that seem worthless, He transforms like gold. What seems like the end of us, He turns into a testimony that helps others too.

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The bottom line is that God loves you, period. His Word says it, and it is true even when we don’t feel it. The Lord gave proof of His love when He gave His life for us so that we could be set free from the death that our sin deserves.

He also works everything for good and for His glory. This doesn’t mean things will be made easy, especially in coming to Christ. It means instead that He uses even the difficult and painful things for good in the end.

A Prayer: Lord, show us the longing for You already within our hearts. You fashioned as like a beautiful work of art, and only You, our Artist-Creator, can satisfy. Take us into that journey with You. Show us how it is life with You that causes us to feel truly alive. Show us how this is the best journey we could ever invest our lives in, above any other pursuit.

Remember, He loves you always.