Faith Rest
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.
(Hebrews 4:9-10, NKJV)
A young man recently told me that when he is not busy he feels guilty. He explained that his job required extensive travel across continents and that means that he spends a lot of time in the air. When he is back home, he has a young family to look after and the sense of guilt for leaving them so often pushes him to spend every minute he has doing something for his children, when he can. This is not an isolated scenario when one has to responsibly juggle between his job and family, clearly, there is no time to just be quiet without something pulling at him. Many people are doing three jobs in a day, sleeping in the car and a number of them will say that their only time of minimal rest is when at work, maybe during lunch break. Work and more work has become the mantra and one could be excused for imagining that there is no time for any rest. The truth is that when we work continually, the rhythm steals our strength and focus so that we operate on a routine without much reflection. The message to Adam that he will live by the sweat of his brow (Genesis 3:19) has been taken to another level by our current generation. We are pushed not just by the need to survive but by the fear that we are lagging behind and we need to continually be on the roll.
A story is given of a wood cutter who was given a task of cutting down a huge tree and taking up his axe, he gave it all his energy. The rate at which he was making progress in cutting the tree was however not commensurate with the energy and concentration he was giving the task. A wise old man noticed that he was taking rather long to bring the tree down and upon observation, he advised the wood cutter to take some time to sharpen his axe so that it could cut faster and more effectively. The success of cutting the tree down with efficiency lay in the sharpness of his axe. This brethren is the same for our lives, if we continually push ourselves working, we exhaust ourselves and our results frustrate our expectations. Taking some rest is what equates to sharpening of the axe, it allows us to step back regain our strength, refocus on what we are doing and this gives us perspective. This helps us to not necessarily work too hard but to work smarter for the results we seek.
Beloved, we read in the bible that when God was done with creation He rested (Genesis 2:2). Our memory verse invites us to rest from our works. Not that we do nothing but it is a reminder that though we work, we will not trust our success or livelihoods on our efforts, but that we acknowledge God’s hand which gives us the ability to make wealth (Deuteronomy 8:17-18). The call is for a focus on God’s strength at work in us and not in our human ingenuity and power. When we rest in God, He refreshes and renews our bodies and souls by taking away the pressure we put on ourselves to do everything. Paul reminds us that everything was prepared and completed from the foundations of the world (Hebrews 4:3) and ours is to take it in. Solomon also taught us that there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9), everything there is existed all this time, so again, let us enter into God’s rest. God is not asking us to rest without making adequate provision, Paul confirms to us that everything we need for life and godliness in this present life has been catered for (2 Peter 1:3). Our rest is based on faith in God’s promises that He meets all our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19). It is a work of faith, which again we are reminded is the substance of things that we hope for (Hebrews 11:1). Beloved, we are invited to find our confidence and rest in God’s perfect and completed work. It is a rest born out of faith in our ever faithful Father God.
Thoughts:
How does the idea of rest sound to you?
Where do you need to let go and take a rest?
What would prevent you from taking this rest?