God calls us to find our rest from this violent world in Jesus.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
Psalm 116:7 English Standard Version

Many dangers confronted travelers on the Santa Fe trail. What do you do when your wagon wheel breaks? What do you do when food and water are scarce? What do you do when someone threatens your life?

Bent’s Old Fort, La Junta, Colorado

The sight of Bent’s Fort comforted these travelers. They knew that they would rest once they were safely behind the walls of the fort. In the safety of the fort they wouldn’t worry about their wagon, food or other dangers. Yes, the fort had its struggles otherwise the small prison would have been unnecessary, yet people could trust that the structure of the community would deal with these problems unlike their journey outside the walls.

The psalmist who wrote Psalm 116 had been saved from death. He sings that the cords of death had entangled him (v. 3). He knew of the dangers that humanity faces in a fallen world, and so do we.

Where do our souls find rest on our pilgrimage? They find their rest in Christ who conquered the storms of life by being consumed by these storms on his cross. He was separated from his Father that we might know rest in God. He was pulled away from the fellowship of others that we might find rest in the community of those he declares to be saints.

The world in which we live is a violent place. Some of us, if not many of us, reading this blog have experienced the cords of death wrapped tightly around our feet, yet God gives us rest. It is God who has redeemed us this side of the grave and who will save us when he declares that it is time for this brutal world to see his Son in all of his glory.

May we, along with the psalmist, declare that we are God’s servants (v. 16), servants who know that he is our resting place.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner