REST
Hebrews 3 & 4
I’ve come to love this principle in the last few days. It means to cease activity. Thanks to a couple of `our` kids :) at Capernwray Bible School, this concept really hit me the other day (thanks Jessamy and Jared). They had a class on Hebrews and this was one of the topics. Jessamy did any amazing blog about it (see thisleakingvessel.tumblr.com). Why did it hit me so hard? Because I’ve always struggled with it. I’ve always kept busy, worked hard, had the “me do myself” or “if I want something done, I have to do it” attitude.
This attitude is not healthy physically, emotionally or spiritually. It makes me depend on myself for strength instead of on God. It becomes a struggle for control. Me against God….gee I wonder who’s going to win that fight… :P
Eight months ago, I hurt my ankle. I can’t remember how I did it, I just remember the burning pain on the back of it. I also remember that I was running around trying to get everything done and didn’t stop. I didn’t even go to the doctor about it until last month when the swelling got worse and it became a lot more painful. It turns out that I partially tore my achilles tendon and have made it a lot worse by not resting it. As a result, its going to take a lot longer to heal now.
Why did I do this? Because I didn’t want to rest it. I “needed” to do things, look after my family, run a business, was indispensible and I didn’t have time to rest. Notice the focus on those last statements. It was on “I”. I was relying on my own strength, had to be in control and not resting in God. Just like the Israelites, I forgot to put my faith and trust in God and as a result of my sinful, controlling, disobedient heart, I made things worse.
Hebrews 3:7- 4:2 says
“So, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the wilderness,
where your ancestors tested and tried me,
though for forty years they saw what I did.
That is why I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.”
Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.”
So now I need to learn to fully rest in God. He is revealing a lot of areas where I rely on my own strength and don’t want to give up control. Proverbs 3:5-6 says:
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.”
Its so true. It just takes submission and resting in Him. Hard lessons to learn, but the peace, joy and contentment that come from doing it is truly a gift of God’s grace.
