The creature must find a resting place
Hebrews 4:9 “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”
In this day and age, people are anxious, worried, and often depressed. There is a great many personal reasons for that….but there is also the simple fact that we need to find our resting place in the Will of God….
…for that is the only real resting place there is.
Now I am not talking about surrender to His Will, in general. Every Christian, I believe must come to that place….where they have decided to do the Lord’s Will. Period.
No, I am talking about coming to the place where we rest in God.
When I was in the hospital this last year, and in pain, and troubled….I cried to the Lord…and knew He was there.
But…..and I want to say this with the most reverent speech….that was not enough. Why? Because at that time….I wanted Him to do something….I wanted my circumstances to change….I wanted to be able to get up….and,…. well you get the idea!
My prayers were full of myself….not necessarily whining (although I am sure I did some)…but reminding the Lord of promises, and what I thought was the Lord’s Will concerning them.
There was no rest.
Hebrews 4:10-11 “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
Then, I got real serious with the Lord….for trouble seemed to come onto trouble. Sleepless night upon sleepless night. And I sought His Word concerning this.
And He gave me:
Psalm 18:1 “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.”
And He started to show me, me….and His Way. There were failures to deal with, testimonies to give….His Word to study.
And then He showed me, my heart. I love the Lord, and the joy of that fact…amid what I felt….
……and the strength of His love….in the midst of all the terribleness….was my rest.
We think of His greatness….He can do anything! But what He showed me was HImself…and that all I was going through was from Him….and HIs love.
That brought me to this place of rest: whether in death (and it seemed a possibility), or life…He was going to say…
…..and I was at peace…..He was my place of rest.
He became an anchor to my soul….and the bed which I wanted to flee, became an altar to His Way.
“Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest”
And what is the one thing that keeps us from entering into rest? Unbelief.
“Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” (This “fall” is not to fall away….but to fall down on something. To fall on the promises God has given you….to seemingly crush them.)
Unbelief destroys things.
It comes into our minds first (whether by a suggestion of the devil or a temptation from the world) and says: God has not given you what He said…..and then the suggestion repeats what God has said….but adds things…
…or takes away from what He has really said.
Then unbelief comes into our hearts….and here is the “fall”. We feel that His Word has been crushed….that He will not do it for us…..or now.
But the very next verse, if we will see it, takes care of these temptations….
Hebrews 4:12 “For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
How wonderful to give us HIs Word! How wonderful to show us what He is speaking to us about!
His Word is quick or enlivening!
His Word is powerful….we know this, so many times He has spoken and moved our hearts and lives!
His Word is sharper than any two edged sword….for it reaches through the hindrances to our soul (reasons, emotions, and will) and reaches our spirit which responds and yields to His Word.
His Word is a discerner of our thoughts and intents of the heart (1 Cor. 14:24-25)….and shows us exactly how we are….and what we need!
We have but to yield to it….and the Lord gives us grace to overcome.
John 1:17 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
He has offered abundant life….”…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Overflowing life….a resting place for us, as creatures….in this world of turmoil and trial.
Will we yield….to Him….and His Way for us? For this Way may take us down into the valley of the shadow of death…..or up into the mountain top of joy…or may lay a table in the presence of our enemies….
….but in it all, as we yield, we can say….”Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” (Ps. 24:5)
Psalm 18:1 “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.”
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 