Lately, God has been putting a lot of songs in my spirit! I
have mentioned it before, but sometimes a song can really take you in,
especially when you are going through things. You know how it is…a song will
come on the radio and it sounds like it was written just for your situation. This
morning that song for me was “There Remaineth a Rest” by Donald Lawrence. I
just kept hearing the chorus repeating itself over and over. “There remaineth a
rest, a rest for the people of God. A promise, a finished work and we must
guard it with our hearts. Everything you will ever need was provided at
Calvary.” I just kept hearing it and couldn’t get away from it. Finally, the
Lord sent me to the scripture in Hebrews 4 that the song is based on and once I
read the entire thing, it truly blessed me. Today, God is speaking to the fighters,
the runners, and the “I can handle it all” folks. He is saying, come and take
advantage of the promised rest that remains.
Hebrews 4 is a powerful chapter. I usually don’t do this but
I feel led to post the entire chapter here. I believe the Lord showed me the Message
version because He really wants you to get this. It’s time out for striving to
fix things that God has already fixed. Often, the reason you don’t see the
manifestation is because you can’t take your hands off long enough to see it. Saints, it is finished!
For as long, then, as
that promise of resting in him pulls us on to God’s goal for us, we need to be
careful that we’re not disqualified. We received the same promises as those
people in the wilderness, but the promises didn’t do them a bit of good because
they didn’t receive the promises with faith. If we believe, though, we’ll
experience that state of resting. But not if we don’t have faith. Remember that
God said, “Exasperated, I vowed, “They’ll never get where they’re going, never
be able to sit down and rest.” God made that vow, even though he’d finished his part before the foundation of the
world. Somewhere it’s written, “God rested the seventh day, having completed
his work,” but in this other text he says, “They’ll never be able to sit down
and rest.”
So this promise has not yet been fulfilled. Those earlier ones never did get to the place of rest because they were disobedient. God keeps renewing the promise and setting the date as today, just as he did in David’s psalm, centuries later than the original invitation: Today, please listen, don’t turn a deaf ear . . .” And so this is still a live promise. It wasn’t canceled at the time of Joshua; otherwise, God wouldn’t keep renewing the appointment for “today.” The promise of “arrival” and “rest” is still there for God’s people. God himself is at rest. And at the end of the journey we’ll surely rest with God. So let’s keep at it and eventually arrive at the place of rest, not drop out through some sort of disobedience.
God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.
So this promise has not yet been fulfilled. Those earlier ones never did get to the place of rest because they were disobedient. God keeps renewing the promise and setting the date as today, just as he did in David’s psalm, centuries later than the original invitation: Today, please listen, don’t turn a deaf ear . . .” And so this is still a live promise. It wasn’t canceled at the time of Joshua; otherwise, God wouldn’t keep renewing the appointment for “today.” The promise of “arrival” and “rest” is still there for God’s people. God himself is at rest. And at the end of the journey we’ll surely rest with God. So let’s keep at it and eventually arrive at the place of rest, not drop out through some sort of disobedience.
God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.
Now
that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to
God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is
out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing,
experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what
he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.
There is something to be said for rest. Most people don’t
get enough of it and it is often taken for granted. As I read Hebrews 4, the
Lord just began to speak to me about rest. I looked up the word rest in the
Greek and it means a “calming of the winds, a resting place.” The dictionary
then went a little further and said “the heavenly blessedness in which God
dwells and of which He has promised to make persevering believers in Christ
partakers after the toils and trials of life on earth are ended.” Y’all know I
don’t always get into definitions but I found it interesting that this was a
different rest than the one that Jesus talks about in Matthew 11:28, when He
says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
In that case, He was talking about an actual rest, a refreshing, ceasing from
movement and labor to collect your strength. But in Hebrews 4, He is talking
about the promise of a finished work. It is the same word as when He rested on
the 7th day of creation. He rested because He was finished. Folks,
God has already done the work. Herein lies the question…do you believe it? Do
you believe that the situation that is taking up so much of your time and brain
space has already been worked out?
Hebrews 4 closes with a highlight of who Jesus is for a
reason. You see with His death and resurrection, He did it all. But He also
sits on the right hand of God as our intercessor and our advocate. God wants
for you to be whole and at rest. He wants you to rest in Him, KNOWING that all
that you ever needed lies with Him. I challenge you to take that situation,
that husband, that child, that job and release it to God. I guarantee that He
will respond with ‘I’ve got it under control.’ You know why? Because the Word
says that the Lord will perfect that which concerns you and in this instance ‘perfect’
means complete! Do you see how it all comes back to the finished work of
Christ? Saints, “there remaineth a rest for the people of God.” I invite you to
take advantage!
AMEN
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