Life can feel overwhelming sometimes. Between daily demands and long-term goals, it can be difficult to keep up with everything we want to accomplish.
Yet God doesn’t ask us to push through exhaustion. In fact, a verse from Isaiah reminds us of an incredibly restorative truth: He wants to give us rest.
A Safe Place to Land
Recently, on an episode of the Sunday on Monday podcast, host Tammy Uzelac Hall spoke with Brigham Young University Professor Kerry Muhlestein about Isaiah 1:3, which reads:
“The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.”
While a modern reader might interpret the word “crib” in this verse as a place to sleep, Kerry pointed out that the Hebrew word is probably better translated as manger or feeding trough. These images represent the level of trust between an animal and a loving, dependable owner.
Kerry then shared the following story from a member of his ward:
“A wonderful member of our elders quorum presidency [shared] that when he was growing up, they had a bunch of cows, and his father could … call out the name of a cow, and that cow would lift its head and locate his father and start walking towards him.
“He said he or others could call that [same] name, and nothing would happen. But because this guy took care of his cows and fed his cows, and they knew he would take care of them, he could call them, and they would come.”
“In Returning and Rest”
Similarly, God knows our names and will provide for us.
Tammy pointed out that the symbolism of the “master’s crib” communicates a sense of safety and relief. “It’s a place where [the ox has] been comfortable,” she says. “It’s where he knows he can go at the end of the evening and just have his burdens unloaded … and be fed.”
Interestingly, the verse goes on to say that Israel may not know or consider who is feeding them. “Sometimes, we think we fed ourselves,” Kerry explains. “We think … we are the ones who got that food in that crib. But no, it was God who was feeding us, and we forget that.”
Nourishment is a daily need, and we need to turn to God for sustenance continually. But this dependence is part of His design—and we don’t need to accomplish everything to turn to Him.
He can meet us in even our most weary of moments and help us find His rest, wherever we are. As Elder Patrick Kearon recently taught in a BYU devotional:
“We are to cheerfully do everything in our power and then stand still, slow down, be at rest and at peace, even in our incompleteness. And God will come through. He always does.
“If I have a wish for you, it is that you find peace in your actual life—not the life you think you would have if you were able to finish your to-do list, have three extra hours in a day, and finally achieve your goals. My wish is that you and I might slow down and turn more easily and comfortingly to Christ and bask in His promised peace.
“Isaiah put it this way: ‘In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.’”
To dive deeper into insights from Isaiah, listen to the full episode of Sunday on Monday, available exclusively on Bookshelf+.
More articles for you:
▶ Meet the Armenian convert who’s served in the temple weekly for almost 50 years
▶ 3 steps to get more out of Isaiah (that require less reading)
▶ This hidden gem in Proverbs is perfect for when life doesn’t make sense
