Whom Shall I Fear? © 2026 Caso Writing, LLC
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THE CALL TO REST
I will both lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, Lord, make me live in safety .
PSALM 4:8
THERE ARE MANY THINGS THAT CAN KEEP US UP AT NIGHT, BUT fear and worry and anxious thoughts are some of the most prevailing. But there comes a time when we must give it all to God and go to sleep. We have to entrust to Him what’s weighing so heavily on our minds, because our bodies and our minds need rest. We need it physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. We need both the rest that comes from sleep and the rest that can only be found in God.
As you read the following twenty-five devotions, one day at a time, let them help you prioritize rest and replenish your soul. After all, to rest is a command God has given to us for our good.
RUN TO THE ONE
Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest .
MATTHEW 11:28
THERE WAS A TIME IN MY LIFE, AFTER YEARS OF MINISTRY, WHEN I found myself in a place I had never known. It was a place where I had all the experience, gifts, talents, knowledge, and ability to keep going, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to. It was shocking to me. There had been moments when I had wanted to walk away, temporarily, when I had felt deeply betrayed, deeply hurt, deeply misrepresented, deeply misunderstood. But never had I imagined I would find myself in such a place where I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep going the way I had always gone. It wasn’t an issue of backsliding or finding myself in some great sin or anything. It was more a feeling that I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep pioneering, building, pressing on for that next thing God wanted me to do—the very thing I’ve written in these devotions to encourage you to do. To not fear and to endure in faith. I know firsthand how critical it is to endure, so when I found myself unsure if I wanted to, it rattled me to my core.
Have you found yourself in such a place? Where you know that you can keep going, but you aren’t sure you want to? Maybe that’s where you
are now, but I know from my own journey that with God’s help you can continue.
I got through that season, but I discovered that how I felt is how we all can feel when hit by compounding blows, particularly one right after the other. When we lose loved ones. When we grow weary in our callings and careers. When we experience disappointments and become disillusioned. When we can’t help but falter and wonder if we want to keep going the way we’ve always gone.
When I found myself in such a place, I did a number of things to turn myself around, but one of the most important was to stop relying on my own endurance and instead redirect my strength into finding my rest in God.
There is a kind of rest that can be found only in Christ. Unknowingly, I had shifted from doing what God had called me to do from a place of rest in Christ to carrying the burdens on my own.
Have you ever been there? Maybe that’s where you are today. Are you carrying what only Jesus can carry? If so, run to the One who promised to give us rest—the only One who can give us the kind of rest we need.
Heavenly Father, please help me redirect my strength from trying to make it through to finding my strength in You, to finding rest in You . In Jesus’ name, amen .
