I hear this message everywhere. It’s in everything I read and in everything I hear. Rest. Y’all, I have a to-do list that is growing by the minute and my life feels like it is going in so many directions that I can’t keep up. Yet, instead of hearing, “You go girl! You can do it! Hustle!,” I hear, “Rest.” And the passage that all these messages point to is in Hebrews 3 and 4.
It’s a beautiful reminder and warning where the writer urges his readers to rest. He reminds them of how God, more than a thousand years earlier, had rescued His children from slavery, led them on a long journey that would take them far from a place where they were known as slaves and bring them to a new home where they would be free. In this new home, He would not only meet their basic needs, He would lavish blessings on them. He wanted to be their Provider so that they could rest.
He would give them rest from their enemies, rest from their labor, rest from belonging to others and rest by belonging only to Him.
It was a hard journey from slavery to freedom but there they were, on the brink of living in this land of promise. They could see it. However, while it was what they wanted all along and even though they had seen Him do amazing things on their behalf, sadly, they just couldn’t trust God to remove the final obstacle to their rest.
There were consequences to their lack of faith. The passage says that their unbelief provoked God’s wrath. As a result, they lost the privilege of living in God’s rest. An entire generation would get passed over and it would be their children who would know the beauty and blessing of living in the land God had promised.
The writer of Hebrews uses this story to encourage God’s children in his day. They had faith for salvation from the slavery of sin but they needed to trust God and rest in that trust.
So what does rest mean for me? I rest in knowing that my soul is secure for Eternity. I rest in knowing that God has saved me from slavery to sin and I definitely rest in the freedom He provided through grace.
But what if I rested from worrying about how others perceive me? What if I rested from staying busy to keep up with my expectations or the exceptions others place om me? What if I rested from achieving for my own reputation? What if I rested from the idea that I have to strive for perfection?
Young woman,
God wants your trust. He wants you to believe in Him for salvation, yes, be more than that. He wants you to believe that you can rest in Him. Jesus says,
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
I believe He really wants that for us. I also believe that in order to pick up His yoke, we need to set down the yoke we’ve been carrying.
If you’re like me, it takes a lot for you to slow down and realize that you’re missing out on God’s rest. Would you slow down with me this season and step into the rest God is leading you to?;
You want to know something else? God wanted to bless His children with a Promised Land but in that, He also wanted to have a people for Himself. He wanted a relationship with them so He could display His love and His provision, so that all the people on earth could see His goodness and be drawn to His family. The rest God has is to bless you. It’s also to bless others through you.