Better Promises : WK 2 - WED
(Hebrews 4:1-11)
God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said,
“In my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter my place of rest,’”
even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”
So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:
“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts.”
Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
It seems to be getting harder and harder to get good rest these days. Every time I've struggled to sleep at night I've gotten all kinds of advice: melatonin, magnesium, blue light glasses, chamomile tea. Everyone seems to know the best way to get rest.
You know the feeling of staring up at the ceiling in the middle of the night wishing, hoping, praying that you could just fall asleep. You try everything and nothing seems to work. Your mind races, refusing to shut off. If you're anything like me, you ultimately give up, get up and try to get some work done even if it's 3:30 in the morning.
The author of Hebrews makes an interesting connection between rest and faith. It seems that everyone is invited to experience the rest that God is offering. but only those who have faith will truly enter into this rest. For only those who believe can enter His rest.
The kind of belief that's necessary to truly rest is a belief that God is in control, that God is my provider, that God has taken care of everything in my life. The reason I wake up in the middle of the night and stare at the ceiling and can't turn off my thoughts is because I have not surrendered. I have not given God complete and total control of every aspect of my life, and I worry. I worry that I'll lose it all. I worry that I'll make the wrong decision. I worry that I will hurt my family. I worry that people will find out who I truly am and I'll be rejected. And all these thoughts and worries and concerns don't allow me to rest.
But if I submit it all to God, if I put it all in His hands, if I tell him you take over, now I can stop worrying. Now I can stop scheming. nNw I can stop tossing and turning in my bed at night and enter into the best rest anyone could ask for. The rest God is offering.
God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said,
“In my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter my place of rest,’”
even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”
So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:
“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts.”
Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
It seems to be getting harder and harder to get good rest these days. Every time I've struggled to sleep at night I've gotten all kinds of advice: melatonin, magnesium, blue light glasses, chamomile tea. Everyone seems to know the best way to get rest.
You know the feeling of staring up at the ceiling in the middle of the night wishing, hoping, praying that you could just fall asleep. You try everything and nothing seems to work. Your mind races, refusing to shut off. If you're anything like me, you ultimately give up, get up and try to get some work done even if it's 3:30 in the morning.
The author of Hebrews makes an interesting connection between rest and faith. It seems that everyone is invited to experience the rest that God is offering. but only those who have faith will truly enter into this rest. For only those who believe can enter His rest.
The kind of belief that's necessary to truly rest is a belief that God is in control, that God is my provider, that God has taken care of everything in my life. The reason I wake up in the middle of the night and stare at the ceiling and can't turn off my thoughts is because I have not surrendered. I have not given God complete and total control of every aspect of my life, and I worry. I worry that I'll lose it all. I worry that I'll make the wrong decision. I worry that I will hurt my family. I worry that people will find out who I truly am and I'll be rejected. And all these thoughts and worries and concerns don't allow me to rest.
But if I submit it all to God, if I put it all in His hands, if I tell him you take over, now I can stop worrying. Now I can stop scheming. nNw I can stop tossing and turning in my bed at night and enter into the best rest anyone could ask for. The rest God is offering.
- What keeps you up at night?
- What stops you from surrendering completely to God?
- What would it look like for you to enter into God's rest today?
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