My family used a few of these benches to stop, rest and catch our breath on the way up.
(Thank the Good Lord)
My breathing was labored. My heart was pounding in my ears.
My legs were screaming from the incline.
I also noticed a few people stopping on the benches to rest and then deciding to just stay there. They would tell their families to go on without them and pick them back up on the way down.
God in His sweet way used these encounters to speak to my heart.
Each of us in on a journey.
Some folks have a mighty steep climb.
Death, depression or despair have knocked the wind out of you and taking the next step in the climb ahead seems like too much to ask.
God provides places along our way to stop and rest.
I call this a pit-stop.
It is a place to catch your breath.
It is a place to appreciate how far you have come.
It is a place to rest, repair, and refuel.
But it is also a place to pass through.
It should never be a place where we retreat and go backwards or where we lay down and refuse to get up.
If we do...it becomes a pit-fall.
Here is the scary definition of a pit-fall: a trap, snare, a camouflaged pit used to capture and hold men or animals; hidden or unexpected difficulty.
Anybody other than me ever fall into a trap like this?
Anybody else ever stopped to rest and instead decided to use the break to look around and become jealous of others easily walking by, or worse, become insanely sorry for yourself??
Our Sovereign God calls us to great faith.
Building faith in my life has meant many many uphill climbs.
God remembers we are made of dust....he knows we become weary and we need rest. (Psalm 103:14)
So He provides places of rest.
It's funny sometimes when we sit and rest we even begin to think that we aren't going forward at all....
But the rest IS part of moving forward.
Don't allow pride to push you past a pit-stop when you feel the Holy Spirit telling you to sit for a bit.
I was a little embarrassed to have to stop and rest on those benches.
I am young(ish) after all.
But no one cared or counted who all had stopped when we got to the top to enjoy the incredible view.
Those pit-stops were provided in my journey.
I would have been foolish not to use them.
Jesus says this in Matthew 11:28, "Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest."
Did you notice it is an invitation?
He graciously invites us to come to him. Sit. Dwell. Abide. Rest.
If you already do this...good for you.
I am terrible at thinking that I can rest later. Always later. There is too much to do now and I can put off the rest.
LISTEN TO ME....when I do that....I am at serious risk of finally stopping to rest and that pit-stop becomes a full on pit-fall.
I have done it so many times.
Rest was there for me before.
But I pushed right past it.
I kept going in my own strength.
This was the delusion I believed.
It was the lie of pride.
So when I finally stopped to rest out of exhaustion instead of obedience~ I stayed longer than I should. I focused on others people with seemingly easy lives (also a lie) and got angry and jealous. I thought of how difficult my own path was and got mad at God. I began the comparison game. Criticism set in and any goodness of God was hard to find.
THIS IS A PITFALL.
If this sounds like you or your thoughts please cry out to the One that even rescues us from the pits we make for ourselves....
Listen to this beautiful scripture~
I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
and he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
and steadied me as I walked along.
He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be astounded.
They will put their trust in the LORD.
Ps.40:1-3
Repent to Jesus.
Enjoy the pit-stops.
Avoid the pit-falls.
Enter into His glorious rest.
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