Have you ever found yourself needing a break so bad, but when you finally get the opportunity to take it, you still can’t get the rest you need? The level of modern conveniences we have today is nothing short of incredible, but even though we have all the technological gadgets and gizmos, 24 hours a day still doesn’t seem to be enough. We’re busier than ever, but busy doesn’t mean productive, and doing a lot doesn’t always equate to making the best use of our time. Many of us are exhausting ourselves physically, emotionally, and mentally because we’re neglecting to be led by the Holy Spirit. We deny the help he offers and because of it, we’re not entering into God’s rest.
God’s Word teaches us about His nature. He’s given us this earth experience to come into relationship with Him through Jesus Christ because He wants us to know who He is. Knowledge about God sustains us. It keeps us thriving and growing spiritually, but when we’re not saturating our minds and hearts with knowledge about Him, we live beneath our privilege and head in a direction that is opposite of where He wants us to be. God said in
Hosea 4:6 that His people were being destroyed because they lacked knowledge about Him, and indeed rejected this knowledge. So, it is evident that we can be severely hindered and harmed if we’re not seeking to know God.
God wants us to know His thoughts, and one of the very important truths about His thoughts is His plan for us, and His plan for the entire universe. Because people haven’t taken the time to learn God’s thoughts through His Word, they misunderstand how He moves and miss out on His blessings. Our Heavenly Father is brilliant beyond brilliance. He’s intelligence has no limitations. Because many people haven’t understood this, they think He makes up the order of the universe as we go along, but Ephesians 1:5 tells us that way before we entered our mother’s wombs, God chose us to be His kids and adopted us into His family. He planned for us before He founded the world.
Understanding Heavenly Father as a God that brilliantly, meticulously, and magnificently makes plans is a big part of entering into His rest. Genesis 2:1-3(NLT) teaches us, “1 So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.” This passage is one of the greatest statements of God’s truth because it declares the brilliance and power of His being. God declared the seventh day holy because it is the day He rested from the work of creation. He sealed the perfection of His handiwork for all time.
From the smallest detail to the greatest, whether supernatural or natural—heavenly or earthly, every nuance was factored into His creation and absolutely nothing was left out. If any detail had been overlooked, it would not have been a work of perfection, but rest assured that no detail was overlooked because everything God does is perfect! When Heavenly Father rested, it was the rest of all eternity, and this is the rest that He has invited us to enter.
God’s provision, protection, and care are included in His rest. Everything that we survey came from Him, the Source of all there is. He didn’t need help from anyone to complete His Creation and remembering this will mold the attitude that you and I must have to rest in Him. We do not add to God, He adds to us. He tells us in Isaiah 55:9(KJV), “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” To recognize that His thoughts are exponentially higher than ours demonstrates our reverence and honor for who He is. This is required to trust Him as we should.
When we look at the world today, we see the antithesis of rest. Chaos and confusion are rampant, and we must understand that this isn’t what God wants. 1Corinthians 14:33 declares that He isn’t the author of confusion, He is a God of peace. 1Corinthians 7:15 says that He has called us to this peace, to live and abide in it, so that we can be of good comfort as we continually abide in Him through Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 3:7-11 confirms, “That is why the Holy Spirit says,“Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness.” There your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years. So I was angry with them, and I said ‘Their hearts always turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’ So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’” God took care of His people living in Old Testament times. He parted the Red Sea, so they could escape the Egyptians, He fed them manna from heaven in the wilderness when He rescued them from slavery through Moses. But with all the miracles God performed for them, they would not respond in obedience and gratitude. They refused to have faith in Him, and therefore, they were not allowed to enter into God’s rest. We should never allow this to be said of us.
Most people believe they need to ingest or inhale addictive substances to bring them to a place of rest. Their minds race constantly with bad memories, stress, and anxiety, because they don’t have faith in God. They haven’t learned about Him, and they think they are sufficient in and of themselves. If any of us think this way, we are sadly mistaken. God is our everything. He is our sufficiency and strength, and all that we need can be found in Him through Jesus Christ. Even when things look bleak, and it seems that God’s help is delayed, we still must trust Him. The world tries to bombard us with information and negativity to make our faith unstable, but we must see this for what it is. We must not allow anything to keep us from entering into God’s rest. When we place our total trust in Him, He will give us a peace that passes all understanding, and we can have confidence that He has planned everything to work out for our good. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Entering into God Rest”, written for 4theChristianMan.com© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.