Day 4: Rest and release
The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary (Isaiah 46:1).
Sovereign Lord, “With whom will we compare You or count You equal? To whom will we liken You that we may be compared? You are God, and there is no other; You are God, and there is none like You" (Isaiah 46:5, 9).
It was bitter experience that taught Your people to say, "Lord our God, other lords besides You have ruled over us, but Your name alone do we honor" (Isaiah 26:13). In exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles (Romans 1:23), they became subject to lords of captivity, exiled, and subject to harsh labor.
You had given them the express command: "Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them" (Joshua 23:7).
In principle, You have given us the same command. For You stamped Your own image on humanity at creation (Genesis 1:27), and no other image—no other god will fit the place in our being that was created to receive and to worship You.
But we are deluded by substitutes and shams and reproductions and imitations And our souls bow low beneath clutter, and collection, and consumption, and captivity. They become for us a burden for the weary.
And all the while our Lord Jesus holds our the invitation, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).
Today, Lord, we release to You all our burdens—all that weighs us down, all that threatens to engulf us, all that sinks us into the pit. We give You our worries, our cares, our hopes our fears.
We surrender to You our gods—the images we have made in the shape of things, or people, or relationships or possessions, or preoccupations, or pursuits, or ambitions or aspirations. We surrender to You all the useless idols we carry, that stoop and bow together; unable to rescue the burden (Isaiah 46:2).
Deliver us from unnecessary struggle, and from striving, and from contriving to fit what is not meant for us—when Your yoke is easy and Your burden is light (Matthew 11:30). Give us rest and release. Remind us of the words You gave to Your nation who stooped and stumbled under a weight of idolatry, when all along You had given Your promise:
"Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you" (Isaiah 46:4).
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