envelop spinner search close plus arrow-right arrow-left facebook twitter

Hebrews 3:12 – 4:14 Resting in God

by fol CHURCH on November 19, 2018

According to the Bible’s account of creation, mankind was created on the sixth day, and God declared the following day to be a day of rest. The concept of resting was among God’s first gifts to humanity. He rested, and many centuries later, he issued instructions to Moses about the Sabbath.

But what does it mean to rest? We lead such active lives that it’s easy to forget – ask somebody at the end of the week how they are and they will probably tell you they are tired, or else say they’ve been busy. In addition to this, for all the benefits of instant communication, our technology has a tendency to keep our minds active, or connect us to our working lives, even when we are “resting”. Our passage in Hebrews today tells us even that God declared this sort of unrest as a curse upon those who had angered Him (4:3), so we whom He calls His children should not be experiencing this.

There are two forms of rest that we can work at improving in our daily lives. The first is the human idea of rest upon which we’ve briefly touched. Such rest could include avoiding social media, or the news, if that helps; making time to spend with people, be it family or friends; pursuing hobbies or skills; travelling, or exercise – one I struggle to remember to find time to do!

The second – and almost indisputably more important – of the two is the idea of resting in God and spending time in his presence. We’re reliably informed that he is the source of our strength (Habbakuk 3:19, Exodus 15:2, Nehemiah 8:10) and that we can find our rest in him (Psalm 23:2, John 14:27). We can do this by spending time in prayer, both in speaking to Him and listening for what He has to say to us, as well as in worship and in looking into the Bible. In this way, we can stay in tune with God and in entering His presence we will find the strength that we need.

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

Father God, thank you that rest is a gift from you. Please help us to remember to put you first, and to draw our strength from you.

return to Through The Bible