The Lord’s insight. We find rest in Him when we stop living in ourselves.
Hebrews 4:1: Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.”
Matthew 11:29: “Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Long before Jesus came, God made a promise to the people that in following Him, they would find rest for themselves. The Israelites were in Egypt over 400 years or so. Most of those years they were in bondage to the Egyptians. Life was hard for them. They knew nothing but work, work and more work.
There was no rest for them. There was no rest for their souls. When they did get a moment to sleep and eat, I imagine they spent that time praying to God for relief. Perhaps for rest.
Hebrews 4 recounts the promise of rest God made to those who were obedient to Him. It was an eternal promise that was fulfilled by Jesus when He came. Matthew 11:29 notes that Jesus Himself invites the people who are burdened with life to come to Him and He would give them rest.
Life is great but living is sometimes very difficult. Like the Israelites, today many of us may feel like we are in bondage in some ways. We may not have all the basic necessities of life. We may be sick in some way. If you are like me, you may have a nagging shoulder ache that just won’t go away.
Most of us have to learn to live with some difficult things that come our way in life. So, we must remember, just as God made sabbath a day of physical rest for the people long ago. He gave us Jesus so that we could have rest today from living in a difficult world.
But the rest He provides us is more than relief from what challenges us. God is Spirit so He first gives us rest from living our own lives so that we can find rest to live the life with Christ that He wants us to live. Many of us are exhausted because we will not stop living for ourselves and start living with Jesus.
When you travel along an interstate highway, you will usually find a place we call a rest stop. There you can pull off the road and find things needed to refresh yourself. After you are rested however, you get back on the road and start doing what you were doing before you stop.
The rest God promises is different from the rest you get when you pause what you are doing so you can catch your breath. The Lord brings His rest stop to you. He doesn’t give you rest so you can keep on doing what you did before. He gives you rest from living the way you lived so you can find the rest to live the way He wants you to live.
So, take Him up on His promise. Get on the interstate highway that leads directly to His heart. It isn’t a long highway. You won’t have to drive far. Leave all your stuff behind you. You won’t need anything old when you take on His yoke.
He will not ask you to pause your life, He will ask you to live with Him a new life. The new life that He asks you to live is new each day so there is no chance for you to become lazy or to feel like you are in bondage to the same thing’s day after day. There is no chance you will become weary at the things you do. He has everything you need to live a busy restful life in Him.
So let today start the day that you learn to stop living in yourself and start living in Him. You will find His rest when you do this. There may be no rest for the weary, but in Him there is rest that keeps you from becoming weary.
Live a Delivered Life.
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