9-21-2025

Good Morning All,

     Exodus 33:14; “And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

    All I need is a little rest! How often have you spoken those words? Maybe at the end of a long day or week; perhaps after a particularly difficult experience. Whenever I counsel families at a funeral or as a loved one is slipping away, I always counsel to get some rest, even if it is a nap once in a while; get some rest. Many don’t realize that they are actually functioning on adrenaline and when that stops, they crash. Many may even get sick with a cold or the flu.

    There are many times in our lives when we can think of times when this happened. A death is difficult but so can be a severe illness or some major change in our life. It might be changing jobs or losing a job or even retiring from a job. Yet, there are many times when there isn’t something particular or specific; it is just a nagging feeling of sadness or despair. It just keeps us up at night. We toss and turn and never really rest. It might be a worry about the economic stability of our family. It might be the choices that a loved one is making. It might just be a constant attack on our own self-image causing us to fear that we just aren’t good enough for our marriage, job, friendships. We feel isolated, lost and alone. This is just where the devil wants you. He wants you separated from you family, your friends, but above all; he wants to separate you from God.

    This is the very thing God wants you to know does not happen! You are never alone; God is always present. From the Garden to the tabernacle to the Temple to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; God is always with us. And this is not just some fancy theological truth speaking to the power and eternal presence of an all-mighty God. This is a relational story. God’s presence is not merely spatial or temporal; it’s covenantal, personal, and transformative.

    The presence of God means that He desires to have a loving fatherly relationship with you. So that you may know the quiet comfort of His Word. He wants you to always be aware of his loving presence so that you may draw the comfort of His eternal love for you. The love that God has for you is just that: for you. He draws you in through our Baptism into his grace that we may always know we can call upon Him, return to Him and forever cling to Him.

    This eternal presence of God in our life is to transform us from frightened children to a child confident that his Father will protect him. In that protection, that loving embrace of the Father, we can find rest and peace. We can know rest because of God’s eternal vigilance, keeping us safe from whatever the devil wants to throw our way. We have peace; not because we will not experience trouble, for we will experience trouble in this broken creation. Rather we have peace because God’s presence makes us whole.

Gracious Father, you give us rest and peace in your Name. Guide us by your Spirit to look always to your loving kindness to keep us safe. Be with those who are especially troubled at this time. Lead them to your merciful arms so that they may know your holy rest and peace. Keep us ever in your loving embrace. In the precious Name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret