run the race – rtr

If you’ve ever played a sport, exerted yourself, or just got tired from a long and challenging day or moment you know just what it is to need to ‘catch your breath’. To get relief from the energy expended during your activity. On a side note, growing up I remember PE teachers and football coaches remarking when someone put their hands on their knees, hunching over to gather themselves after sprints, that they “needed to get up cause ain’t no air down there.” Studies have shown in the past few years that this natural instinct to hunch over and hold your knees when winded is actually the best way to recover oxygen into your lungs and recover from intense exertion. BOOM, Coach Dee!

Now that we have that out of the way I now want to examine what Christ has in mind for recovery for the believer. We know that life can be best compared to a race of endurance, and to run this race well it will require recovery and rest. Our good father had this in mind, and gives us the rest and recovery that we need, we must acknowledge that he gives this and understand that he gives this. It can be easy to attempt working our way through life’s issues, flailing around, in dire need of a respite. It can also be tough to take this rest on that He offers, especially in a culture that does not stop moving anxiously, and even a culture that on the inverse of this, seeks rest without the run. There must be a right way! Let us now take a look in the Psalms to see what He gives.

(Psalm 127:2) “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” Two sentences here, lets break it down. “It is vain that you rise up early and go late to rest”, right here, what first came to my mind was that in my earlier days of run training, I totally misunderstood recovery. What I tended to do was getting up early, do a strenuous run, maybe eat, and then go on throughout my day as usual as if the run earlier had not needed attention. Proper nutrition, hydration, and proper rest. To add to this, I’d usually lurk late and go to bed around midnight. 4:30am-12:00am-ish. Yes, this was not at all sustainable nor wise, and it did not take long at all before I started to crash and not function well in other important areas of life.

What I was missing in this equation was rest and recovery, a way to ‘catch my breath’. Instead my day was filled with anxious toil, while what needed to happen was a re-orienting of this schedule, taking the rest that was available to me. Go to bed earlier, wake up an hour later, and or find rest throughout the day. While this is a bodily example, I believe that the scripture is telling us that there is spiritual as well as bodily rest available for those in God. He does indeed ‘give his beloved sleep’, free from the weary and anxious toils of life. This rest is the recovery and gives us the needed wind to get back to our race, so that we may run it well.

Spiritual rest is found in spending time with the God who sees you. In his word, in meditation, in those most quiet moments, just praying and speaking with him. He hears the voice of his children, he is a good father. Heck, even a simple nap can be what is needed for those needing spiritual recovery, we are not needed to do everything. When these aspects of spiritual rest and recovery are understood it is only natural that the physical follows. Try him on this. Run this race from a place of rest of recovery my friends, it is offered freely to his beloved.

Music recommendations for the week:

Temple-Ryan Ofei & Madison Ryann Ward

Peace Be Still- Rev. Lawrence Roberts

There Is A Higher Throne-Kings Kaleidoscope