Rest in the pursuit of Joy

Rest in the pursuit of Joy 

Rest is a joy because rest is good through and through.

What happens when we find ourselves unable to rest?  Or more explicitly, if our rest is without joy...

“So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”

Hebrews 3:19

The moment I begin to feel anxious or afraid or worried is the moment I am no longer resting.  In other words, to be resting means to feel safe and secure in a place where all things, at least for that time being, are in order.  When I think back on one of my favorite memories as a child it involves a book over my head, a crackling fireplace, and the sound of clinking pots and pans coming from the kitchen indicating my mom was close by (oh, and the wafting scent of warm chocolate chip cookies half baked in the oven!).  I was resting even though I wasn't sleeping.  The rest in this case was a rest of heart and mind, of safety and joy.  I was reading, but it wasn't "work", it was rest.  This is the rest I know is true and that I believe is what God our good Father has given to us.  It is unbelief in His loving sovereignty that sprouts all kinds of unrest in us. 

“For the person who has entered His rest 

has rested from his own works, 

just as God did from His. 

Let us then 

make every effort to enter that rest, 

so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.”

Hebrews 4:10-11

So the way to avoid a pattern of disobedience is to make EVERY EFFORT to enter that rest!

Make every effort to enter that rest!  

Make every single effort in you to enter that rest!  What rest?  Your rest or God's rest?  You have to know the difference between your rest and God's rest, and you will know which is best rest!

It's almost too good to be true but God is saying that we are to rest!  Stop "working" and rest!  Does that mean we stop getting out of bed, going to our jobs, or doing things?  It could be but it includes all aspects of our life, because this rest is a rest of heart and mind.  If we nap then nap restfully!  If we eat then eat restfully!  If we go to school then listen restfully!  If we go to work then work restfully!  How so? You might ask.  How can I rest when I'm at work and people are stressing me out?!  That's a good question, a question suited for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.  How are we to rest at work, school, with family?  The Holy Spirit reveals these amazing truths and shows us how when we open our hearts to Him in honesty. 

“For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. 

It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart.”

Hebrews 4:12

Praying with the aid of the Word of God (as I did for this, reading the book of Hebrews as I prayed with each passage) is a living and effective way to slice open the heart.  Like a sword it penetrates the layers inside your heart with a precision so specific!  It says it's sharper than a double-edged sword!  And that it penetrates as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow.  In other words, it not only separates in the spiritual life but also in the physical!  There are things in the spiritual life that need to be sorted--truth from lie, and there are things in the physical life that need to be sorted--truth from a lie.  Because we are both spirit and body, and the word of God addresses both.  It says that it judges the thoughts and ideas of the heart, not of the mind!  Praying with the Word of God avails us to the separating power of the Spirit, and as these separations are made that is how we cooperate with the Spirit to see our true thoughts and ideas more clearly.  We discern with the Spirit not apart from Him.  How can we walk in the freedom of His rest without Him?  So then, we must make every effort to enter into rest, whether at work, in bed, at school, out to lunch, or with certain individuals.  We must enter into God's rest, because only a good God would command us to live such a life!  So then, as we pray with the Word of God and avail our hearts to be sliced open it will undoubtedly expose the source of our worries, fears, and unbelief...these are the very blockades that make us unable to enter into God's rest.  We cannot enter into God's glorious rest if we hold on to anything that takes away from God's goodness, sovereignty, love, and care.  That would contradict the very presence of God!  So, as our hearts are cut open to the Spirit we will see things that are painful to see, but even in this moment of truth we are further aided by Jesus Himself! 

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. 

Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.”

Hebrews 4:15-16

Once our hearts are cut open by the Word of God and every ugly sin writhes exposed by the Spirit to the light of Truth, there Christ is our High Priest.  He knows every sin in us, yet was without sin Himself, meaning He has experienced the weight of sin without committing the sin.  We experience the weight of sin by committing sin, but Christ experienced the weight by volunteering to take ours without committing sin.  So then He knows the weight of difficulty and by that is able to sympathize kindly and gently with our burdens.  He knows how sin weakens us spiritually and physically because he carried our sins.  So the point is, He knows you and me through and through.  There is nothing in our deceptive hearts that He does not know and that He does not sympathize with as our weakness.  All we do at this point of having invited our High Priest into the deepest part of our hearts is to approach the throne of Grace.  

Now the throne of grace, by definition, means that grace is administered.  And what is grace but that which we are given according to what we do not deserve!  Which is to receive mercy and help in our time of need!  It is grace because "our time of need" was caused by our own sin in our own hearts!  And for that causation we deserve to reap what we sowed!  Yet, at the throne of grace we get what we don't deserve, which is mercy and help!  

God's Word says:

"Today, if you hear His voice, 

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Hebrews 3:15

What is God speaking to you about today?  Surely it is spoken for those who will hear His voice and enter into His rest.  

I encourage you to open the Word of God and prayerfully walk through the passages with an open heart to the Spirit.  Listen and do not harden your heart, but avail yourself to the cut and allow the Spirit to excise the source of unrest in your hearts so that you may be able to approach the throne of grace!   

Jmegrey