There are times when you feel like you can do anything- full of energy and ideas, and lots of things going right in your life. But then there are seasons when every day is difficult, overwhelming, and everywhere you turn there is another negative, trying to either take something away, or crush the life out of you. If today looks like it’s going to be more pain than gain, back up, take a few deep breaths, and do one thing first- determine to be at rest. I know how ridiculous that may seem. I really do. If you don’t have the ability to be successful, or even happy, then how can you make yourself be at rest?
Because God says you can. Jesus said, “My peace I leave with you, I am giving it to you” (John 14.27). Peace and rest are part of a limitless inheritance, not your last bag of M & Ms. In Hebrews 3 & 4, it also says that rest remains here for you. It’s possible. More than possible- rest isn’t a day off, it’s a reality that you can live in every day. I’ve read those chapters so many times, but I’ve missed that point of why it cites the example of ancient Israel choosing fear over trust, wandering around in the desert of their own anxieties for 40 years, instead of going into the promised land of rest (3.11). Land of rest? Really? Everywhere they went there were enemies and hardships and challenges. But that’s the point. Rest isn’t escaping from life, it’s engaging it fully as the person you are becoming in Christ. No matter what is going on around you, rest is possible as you choose to live every moment in the peace, grace, love, and power of who God is for you right now.
In the last verses of chapter 4, it says to be diligent enter rest. That doesn’t mean to exhaust yourself trying to deal with everything in your own strength, it’s saying to surrender your strength to God, and make room for His. Rest is described there as the invitation to go boldly to God to receive mercy and grace. Mercy for anything you’ve screwed up yesterday, and grace for all you need to make today amazing. It also says there that His word is a source of rest that it is so powerful that it can divide soul and spirit. I’ve read a lot about what people think that means over the years. My own thought about it is that our soul – our mind, will, and emotions- can get overwhelmed by life, and can dominate all we are, even our spirit, so that all we see is the negative- what has gone wrong, or what might. When you let God’s word come alive in you, not just as ancient history, but as God-breathed life, the Holy Spirit stands between your old thinking and your spirit, so that you can hear what He is saying to you. You can see yourself, your relationships, and all your circumstances as He does. And you can rest. Because you can also see that He’s got them all.
Equip Your Spirit 