God’s Rest – Part I
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 4:1-11
Key Verse: Hebrews 4:1
God’s promise of entering His rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it.
I have read the fourth chapter of Hebrews many times, but this time I was struck with the emphasis on the word “rest”. I think God knew I needed to focus on rest and make sure I was enjoying the rest that He provides.
Maybe that is what you need, a reminder that God wants you to rest in Him.
In these days, I don’t think it is easy to get into this rest because of all the events that are going on around us. However, we dare not wait to make every effort to enter God’s rest until things get better because I’m not sure they will. God wants us to understand how to rest in Him even while there is unrest and chaos all around us. It is God’s rest in us that will speak the loudest to a world that is desperate to find an answer to the restlessness they feel.
Chapter four reminds us that it is God that has prepared this rest for us (Hebrews 4:2). God wants a relationship with people that is relaxed and joyful.
Can you imagine Jesus running around, rushing to find answers and being overwhelmed by all His responsibilities? No, Jesus was relaxed. He enjoyed the rest that His Father was preparing for all of us.
Our goal should be to look like Jesus in every way, including the sense of deep rest we can find in our Father’s love and power. We certainly can’t convince our world of how good it is to walk with Jesus if we look miserable most of the time.
Chapter four refers to the days of Moses when he was trying to enter the promise land with all the Israelites. God had promised that this land would give them rest; it was a land with all they would need for a great life. The Bible says it flowed with “milk and honey”. In other words, it was a land that would produce their food with little effort and the people of God could enjoy His rest.
However, the Israelites ultimately failed to enter this promised land because of their lack of faith in God’s protection from the pagans that lived there. These pagan nations had large armies with giants that knew how to fight.
But the Israelites had seen, with their own eyes, how God could deliver His people from any enemy that came against them. They had crossed the parted waters of the Red Sea and watched the Egyptian army drown in that same water when God caused it to come in on them.
Why did they think that God couldn’t protect them if they would simply trust Him? Fear is always the biggest enemy of trust. (continued)
Father I do believe that you can always protect me. Help me with my unbelief! In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.