Striving to Rest
Oxymoronic, much? Yes. When you lay down to go to sleep, do you ever lay there and literally toss & turn to try and will yourself to sleep? Ok, maybe that's just me, but as this happened last night, I realized how much I was trying to will myself to sleep instead of let God give me rest. I was resisting Him in that small way, rather than accepting the rest He was trying to give me. Because of that resisting, it took me hours to fall asleep. The Spirit kept me praying, but I wasn't relaxing. It was really strange. But when I finally did relax, still my mind, I fell asleep and thanks to the Lord and the prayers of others, I woke up so very rested. I truly felt renewed by the night's rest. What's more, I only needed one cup of coffee to further stimulate my mind as I prepared for day by having Jesus time. If you know me, you know that's pretty incredible. God is good.
Why did I go on that rant then? Because I've been reading a lot about this thing called rest in Hebrews over the past few days. In my last post, I wrote about fully receiving the help that Christ offers us. Opening our hands from all our efforts and things, and holding fast to the confidence that we have in Christ (see Hebrews 2:14-3:6). There is both a purpose in this and a result from it, namely REST.
So the writer takes us back to what was said of Israel in Psalm 95. They did not hold fast to their confidence in YHWH (the Lord God), and because of their unbelief, the hardening of their hearts to His voice, which beckoned them to enter a place of rest, literally for them the Promise Land, they missed the opportunity to enter it. In a very real example, it turned a rather quick trip from Egypt to Canaan (what we now know as Israel/Gaza/ Palestine/Syria area in the middle east) into a 40-year roundabout of testing and troubles and hardship and restlessness. Yet, God showed up even in that to provide for His people. Even this reference gives voice to that time, though they were in the wilderness, "where your fathers put Me to the test and saw My works for forty years."
The writer is using this reference to show us how we need to hold fast to our confidence in Christ. We do this by striving. We tend such a backwards view of the gospel of God. We put so, so much emphasis on ourselves and our works. This isn't anything new. Israel did the same thing. As they looked into the promised land, they said, "We are not able!" A few (Joshua, Caleb, Moses) said, "GOD is ABLE!" But they resisted. They rebelled. They shifted their confidence from the Lord to themselves, and in that they were not allowed to enter that place of rest. In fact, that entire generation did not enter it at all. Joshua & Caleb's generation did.
But here the emphasis is rightly shifted back to God. His voice, His rest, His good news. Even the fact that He Himself rested on the 7th day after creation as the very beginning of this rest, also as the example of this rest. As I have been reading this passage and meditating on it over and over again, I've just realized how often I strive to rest instead of resting from my striving. We so often quote that verse, "Cease striving, and know that I am God," but do we know it as a foundation for how we should be living? Living FROM rest, not FOR rest?
How then do we rest? We stand on what GOD has done, and what He will do, not on what we might add to it or accomplish for Him. We do not neglect the latter, we do not neglect working, indeed faith without works is dead, but we must not stand upon it. We are not a firm foundation; God alone is. We stand upon what He has done, how He has transformed us and brought us into this glorious inheritance of rest and hope. And we live a life of response to that. Today as I read, I was reminded that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (see Mark 2:23-28). In the context of when he speaks this, the Pharisees had made the Sabbath just another working day by establishing so many traditions as laws for the people to follow. They were not resting just as God rested (Heb. 4:9-10). They were striving to rest, which makes ZERO sense! Before we are quick to judge and thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought, let us remember that we do the same thing; we too strive to rest instead of stilling myself before the Lord and find rest in God alone.
Let us take care not to harden our hearts and to exhort each other away from hard heartedness as long as it is called "today" (see 3:13), because the door to this rest, which was opened by Christ, still stands wide open! But we must respond with faith, with a heart softened by His grace, and in humility cease striving. With Jesus as our Lord, we can cease worrying about what we should or shouldn't be doing, and instead live in response to Him in all things. We can rest from our strivings. Striving says, I can rest when I'm done. Resting says, I have ample strength to do whatever God asks of me because I am resting continually in His presence, where all strength and fullness of joy resides.
Oh my soul, find rest in God alone. From Him alone comes sufficiency and strength to abide in Him and to bear fruit for His name's sake. You can do nothing apart from Him. So be found in Him always, oh my soul. Cease striving and know that He is God. He will be exalted among the nations. He will be exalted in all the earth. Trust Him. He will move the mountains.
Why did I go on that rant then? Because I've been reading a lot about this thing called rest in Hebrews over the past few days. In my last post, I wrote about fully receiving the help that Christ offers us. Opening our hands from all our efforts and things, and holding fast to the confidence that we have in Christ (see Hebrews 2:14-3:6). There is both a purpose in this and a result from it, namely REST.
So the writer takes us back to what was said of Israel in Psalm 95. They did not hold fast to their confidence in YHWH (the Lord God), and because of their unbelief, the hardening of their hearts to His voice, which beckoned them to enter a place of rest, literally for them the Promise Land, they missed the opportunity to enter it. In a very real example, it turned a rather quick trip from Egypt to Canaan (what we now know as Israel/Gaza/ Palestine/Syria area in the middle east) into a 40-year roundabout of testing and troubles and hardship and restlessness. Yet, God showed up even in that to provide for His people. Even this reference gives voice to that time, though they were in the wilderness, "where your fathers put Me to the test and saw My works for forty years."
The writer is using this reference to show us how we need to hold fast to our confidence in Christ. We do this by striving. We tend such a backwards view of the gospel of God. We put so, so much emphasis on ourselves and our works. This isn't anything new. Israel did the same thing. As they looked into the promised land, they said, "We are not able!" A few (Joshua, Caleb, Moses) said, "GOD is ABLE!" But they resisted. They rebelled. They shifted their confidence from the Lord to themselves, and in that they were not allowed to enter that place of rest. In fact, that entire generation did not enter it at all. Joshua & Caleb's generation did.
But here the emphasis is rightly shifted back to God. His voice, His rest, His good news. Even the fact that He Himself rested on the 7th day after creation as the very beginning of this rest, also as the example of this rest. As I have been reading this passage and meditating on it over and over again, I've just realized how often I strive to rest instead of resting from my striving. We so often quote that verse, "Cease striving, and know that I am God," but do we know it as a foundation for how we should be living? Living FROM rest, not FOR rest?
How then do we rest? We stand on what GOD has done, and what He will do, not on what we might add to it or accomplish for Him. We do not neglect the latter, we do not neglect working, indeed faith without works is dead, but we must not stand upon it. We are not a firm foundation; God alone is. We stand upon what He has done, how He has transformed us and brought us into this glorious inheritance of rest and hope. And we live a life of response to that. Today as I read, I was reminded that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (see Mark 2:23-28). In the context of when he speaks this, the Pharisees had made the Sabbath just another working day by establishing so many traditions as laws for the people to follow. They were not resting just as God rested (Heb. 4:9-10). They were striving to rest, which makes ZERO sense! Before we are quick to judge and thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought, let us remember that we do the same thing; we too strive to rest instead of stilling myself before the Lord and find rest in God alone.
Let us take care not to harden our hearts and to exhort each other away from hard heartedness as long as it is called "today" (see 3:13), because the door to this rest, which was opened by Christ, still stands wide open! But we must respond with faith, with a heart softened by His grace, and in humility cease striving. With Jesus as our Lord, we can cease worrying about what we should or shouldn't be doing, and instead live in response to Him in all things. We can rest from our strivings. Striving says, I can rest when I'm done. Resting says, I have ample strength to do whatever God asks of me because I am resting continually in His presence, where all strength and fullness of joy resides.
Oh my soul, find rest in God alone. From Him alone comes sufficiency and strength to abide in Him and to bear fruit for His name's sake. You can do nothing apart from Him. So be found in Him always, oh my soul. Cease striving and know that He is God. He will be exalted among the nations. He will be exalted in all the earth. Trust Him. He will move the mountains.
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