13th May 2026

I’m away from home, attending a work conference. It was an early start – a packed breakfast on the train. The conference was useful, but I’m tired after concentrating on back-to-back presentations and traipsing up and down long, dimly lit hotel corridors. Words from Matthew 11: 28 – 29 hold an immediate appeal at this point: “Come to me, all you that are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me… and you will find rest for your souls”.

However, I’m brought up short by words from Jan Sutch Pickard in this month’s IBRA Bible reading notes:

“People are on the move: roads are crowded with families fleeing for their lives – having been warned of an attack or having already lost their homes to bombing – and seeking a safe place, fearing that nowhere is safe now.

… People are on the move. The city streets are full of folk walking together – calling for justice, carrying placards pleading for mercy, weighed down by the burden of what is being done in their name. Where are you, God?

People are on the move: world leaders burdened by responsibility, jetting into negotiations, to peace talks, expressing outrage while selling arms used in the conflict, to destroy places with names we know from scripture and people made in the image of God. Where are you, God?”

My common and garden temporary fatigue is one thing, but needing rest in the face of the world’s troubles and burdens is quite another. God of justice and mercy, may those who need to know your rest find it.

Ruth Allen