Rest In The Lord
There is a rest that God has provided for His children. However, this rest is only for those who walk with the Lord by faith. If you are a sometimes Christian with very little Biblical knowledge, you will most likely miss God’s promise of rest.
You just do not stumble into the rest of God. The Lord must lead you there. That means you must be tuned into hearing His voice and willing to obey His commands. Otherwise, you will stray off in another direction by yourself. God must, above all else, lead you. Now let us look at the scriptural support for such a notion.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restores my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou prepareth a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23
Psalm 23 is probably the most well-known text in the Holy Scriptures. This is a most beloved psalm and has been quoted in almost every conceivable venue where people need hope. Many a soldier has carried it into battle or placed it next to his heart in a frightening foxhole.
Hospitals and funeral homes are also often places of recital. There was a time when every school child would learn it and say it as a daily routine. Sadly, those days are mostly gone because of our government’s hatred of all things godly. However, disdain for the Bible does not diminish the spiritual impact made by its words.
Some folks fear turning their lives over to God because He might lead them somewhere they do not want to go. The 23rd psalm tells us that being led by God is a rewarding experience. We end up in green pastures (Prosperity) and lie down by still waters (Peace-no confusion); Our souls (Mind, will & Emotions) are restored; The fear of evil fades away; Goodness and mercy follow us through life; We even have a feast right in the midst of our enemies and finally we dwell with the Lord forever. That is a pretty good deal, don’t you think? However, as I said previously, God’s Rest Is Not For Everyone.
God does not lead the masses into His rest. He leads His Children. He must be our shepherd. That makes us His sheep. Being a sheep has certain indicators that prove we are really sheep and not a wolf. Consider these:
- Sheep hear their Shepherd’s voice.
- Sheep come to their Shepherd’s call.
- Sheep do not question their Shepherd’s commands.
- Sheep know when the wolf is near and cries for the Shepherd.
The atheist, agnostic, pantheist, all others that reject Jesus Christ as well as disobedient Christians do not and will not follow His lead. Thus, they miss the rest of God.
God’s Promise of Rest
Hebrews 4:1-11
“Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word, which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”
“So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,” For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.;and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”
“Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:”
“Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.”
“Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.”
We are encouraged to rest from all our works because God rested from all His works. The promise from God is that we can really enter His rest and because He did, we can rest too. However, sometimes we must labor to enter in. Why? Because they get so caught up in what we are doing that it becomes hard to just sit back and leave it up to God.
Someone may be wondering what “all our works” is. It is not getting up and going to work every day or being a reliable husband or wife.
The rest is from trying to attain salvation by our own efforts. God took care of that in His master plan before the foundation of the world. His redemptive plan for man was to sacrifice His only Son as a penalty for sin and offer salvation to all who would believe. (John 3:16)
To rest, then, is to believe that Jesus was sacrificed for our sin and accept Him as our savior. We are to put our trust in Him and stop trying to buy God’s favor with good works. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
That which we are to let go of is the anxiety, fear, confusion, worry and control over our own lives. We are to step off the throne of our life. That seat is now reserved for Jesus. We can trust Him because He said from the cross; “It Is Finished” which fulfilled God’s rest from all His works on the 7th day of creation. He already made plans for us to rest in Him.
Spiritually Speaking
Now that I have shown the scripture in contest and explained the meaning of the text in Hebrews, let us look at the spiritual applications.
As Christians, we have made Jesus Lord and seek to walk with Him through this world. However, evil is on every side and it is hard to live out our faith in Christ. However, some of us strive to make ends meet. We worry about our children and their future. We hope that sickness or sorrow will not knock on our door. We are anxious, fearful, and when someone says to us, “How are you doing today”, we reply with, “I am just hanging in there”.
This is a word picture of a Christian without faith. They are doing just what the Old Testament saints did, not believing. Their unbelief kept them from entering God’s rest. We can fall into the same scenario and miss the promise.
How We Enter In
Our labor to enter in is believing. What do we believe? We believe that God rested on the 7th day from all His work. That means His master plan was complete. It means that God saw every need, every situation and every prayer in His foreknowledge and scheduled them for action.
The Law was seen long before it appeared. In the fullness of time, it came to expose sin and bring death to all that sin. (Lev.18:20) Accordingly, in the fullness of time, Christ came with a new law…the law of the Spirit of Life that brought us liberty and salvation. (Romans 8:2)
This new law set us free from the old one. However, both were in God’s master plan waiting to be released. Thus, it is with our daily lives. We are in God’s master plan and He works everything together for our good and His glory. (Romans 8:28)All we have to do is trust in Jesus; believe that He is in control; and wait for the manifestation of our deliverance/supply.
We enter in by faith and we remain at rest knowing that the battle is the Lord’s, and He is our shield against evil and lack in this life. He will provide. He will lead us to green pastures and still waters. He will restore our souls.
Unbelieving Christians
The Bible tells us that some of the Old Testament saints did not believe and they perished in the wilderness. They never entered the rest of God that was promised to them. They never entered the “Promised Land”. However, the amazing thing was that God still took care of them in the wilderness. Their shoes did not wear out. Nor did their clothing. They ate manna from heaven. No one was feeble in mind or spirit. They still died in the wilderness. Here is what this says to me:
Life can be good, but you can still miss God’s very best. It is better to fear (reverence) God than to fear giants and men of power and authority that dwell in your future. God’s blessings are always connected with faith. No faith, no promise, no divine destiny.
Fear will hinder faith. They are two sides to the same coin. But faith crushes fear and brings victory. One’s destiny rest in their own hands. We choose the path to walk in life and what lies at the end of the road. Life or death is in the power of our own choices.
God is looking for a partner to rule the earth and has chosen us, His children…those who are willing to stand with Him.
We gain a new perspective on life and eternity.
It is our life and we can live it anyway we so desire. Over the years, we form a perspective that drives our thought process and shapes our destiny. If that perspective is negative, we see life that way. We worry, get anxious, become fearful, and generally live a defeated life.
Becoming a Christian is just a title. It does not change you. You change you. How we see things is the motivator for how we act and speak and think. When we see that God is really in control, we start shifting our perspective from a negative to a positive. We begin to trust in Jesus and start saying that everything will work out. This changes our life dramatically.
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
We do not beat ourselves up when we fall short.
When we realize that God is not kidding and life is not a video game, we discover His magnificent grace. He has forgiven us our trespasses. We are free to worship Him and have fellowship through His Spirit. (“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”) I John 1:9
Another great scripture proof is II Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
We can go on in life believing God that He is in control, even of our salvation.
We start being who we are in Christ and not what others think we are.
If you are truly saved by the blood of Jesus, you will become a “New Creature” so the Bible says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” II Corinthian 5:17
What that new creature looks like is mostly a spiritual image and reflection of God. This can be seen by reading Galatians 5:22, which is: Love, Peace, Joy, Long-suffering, Self Control, and all the other fruit of God’s Spirit. The opinions of others, the critical attacks of Satan, and all the rest just fall away. We do not dwell on them anymore. Our new man serves the Lord with great joy.
We have true fellowship with God, and we rest in His grace.
Does God talk to you? I hear His voice all the time. Wouldn’t it be strange for a father to not talk to his children? What kind of father neglects his kids like that? God sees to it that we hear His voice, and He always listens. Remember, His Holy Spirit dwells within us and leads us along life’s way. As we read the Bible, we learn of Him. As we apply the truths found in the Bible, we live out our destiny.
If we are truly at rest, we do not fight every battle that comes our way. In fact, Paul tells us that we can simply resist the devil steadfast in the faith.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” I Peter 5:8-9
We need to allow God to be God in our lives and keep Him in control. As we rest in God, we grow in His grace. We see His hand in our life and hear His voice. All of this makes us more thankful than ever before. Our thoughts move to an old expression that is found in Psalm 124,
“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say; If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
Our praise and adoration for God is because we know that “If it had not been the Lord”, we would not have been able to stand. I am sure you can find more benefits. Mine are just some that I know to be true.
There remains a rest for the children of God. It was born out of God’s rest on the 7th day of creation when He rested from all His work. It is a Sabbath Rest that was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.
It was Jesus that completed the Law and opened the door of grace for those who believed in Him. He was the one that lived the life that God expected man to live, a righteous life.
He was the only one that could die for the sins of mankind, because He was, as it were, the spotless Lamb of God, that was foreshadowed in the Hebrew sacrifices of the Old Testament. It was He that became the Captain of our Salvation and Lord of Heaven and Earth.
To enter into God’s rest is to receive Christ as Savor and lord and to rest in His finished work of Grace. This entire concept of Rest is wrapped up in John’s record of what Jesus said…” For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
We know that we are in God’s rest when we are not worrying; have no anxiety; have no fear of the future; when we are not striving to do good deeds to be accepted; when we are at peace, full of joy and love; have patients, and can see ourselves in eternity with Jesus.
The only thing we are instructed to fear is unbelief. We always want to believe regardless of what we see or feel. God is always with us and He alone is in control. This is the perspective that should rule our lives and shape our actions. Unbelief has no place in our spiritual walk with Jesus. We walk by faith and not by sight. II Corinthians 5:7
May the Lord bless you and keep you in all that you do.
Until Next Time
Rev. John Marinelli
johnmarinelli@embbqrqmail.com