03_Strive to enter into His rest
Gen 2:1 And so the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their heavenly lights. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and on the sixth day, He made humanity, forming man and woman in His image. Then, on the seventh day, God rested. This wasn’t because God was weary. The Almighty doesn’t tire. God’s rest was not inactivity. The Father is always at work. Rather, his rest was one of contentment. His work was complete, perfect, and beautiful. In creating humanity on the sixth day, God gave man the unique privilege of entering into His rest without any labour. From the very start, humanity was not created for endless toil. Our destiny is to find fulfillment and peace in God’s completed work.
Adam stepped into a world where nothing needed improvement. He didn’t wake up to a list of tasks. There was no garden in need of planting. There was no chaos. He opened his eyes on a world already blessed, sanctified, and whole. Everything was finished; all was “very good.” Adam and Eve were invited into this rest—a deep satisfaction and contentment, rooted not in what they had done, but in God’s perfect work.
Today, our ideas of rest often fall short. For most of us, rest is escaping work. We go to sleep, take a vacation, or seek entertainment. None of these are inherently wrong. Yet they do not give us real peace. The mind, like a roaring sea, remains restless. The prophet Isaiah described the wicked as being like the restless sea, tossing up refuse and rest. They cannot find calm because they are consumed with striving and self-reliance. Unrest is due to unbelief and rebellion against God’s ways.
The Israelites who left Egypt with Moses illustrate this truth. They thought leaving Egypt would bring them rest. Instead, their doubt and disobedience forced them to wander in the wilderness for forty years. After the next generation entered Canaan at last, they assumed this would finally bring peace. Yet, even Canaan couldn’t provide true rest. They constantly longed for things that they did not have. They did not have faith to be content with God’s provision and leading. As someone said, “It was easier for God to take Israel out of Egypt than to take Egypt out of Israel.”
Rest is not a matter of circumstances. It’s not about our location. Rest is a condition of the heart. It is born of simple faith and obedience. Remember when the Israelites first stood on the border of Canaan, just a year after their miraculous deliverance from Egypt. They sent out twelve spies to survey the land. Ten returned to discourage the people. They saw only the giants. The challenges looked insurmountable to them. Their words caused fear in the camp. The people refused to trust God’s promise.
Only Joshua and Caleb encouraged the people to enter and possess the land. They saw God, the greatest of all. They believed in his awesome power. They rested in their faith despite apparent danger. ,For the rest of Israel, unbelief kept them out of the land. They wandered for forty years until their bodies fell in the wilderness. They missed the rest God had called them to enter.
The Sabbath was instituted by God for a purpose. It was holy because it commemorated his rest. It was meant to teach his people that they were called into his rest through faith. It was a day to cease from their work. They could sit back and remember that their sustenance came from God alone. On this holy day, they were free to content themselves in his love. They could delight in Him, and in one another. As Isaiah wrote, if they honored the Sabbath, refraining from pursuing their own ways, they would “take delight in the Lord” and be lifted to the heights of blessing. The Sabbath wasn’t just a command; it was an invitation to experience the joy and peace of God’s rest.
This invitation remains open to us today. We need not earn God’s rest. It’s all about trusting God. Whatever our circumstances, or our efforts, God wants us to rest in his love. With every difficulty, our natural inclination is to seek human solutions. We tend to rely on worldly wisdom. We seek the majority opinion. But true rest comes from repentance, seeking God’s direction, trusting his promises, and waiting for his deliverance with quiet patience. As Hebrews reminds us, “Through faith and patience we inherit the promises.”
Abraham’s story illustrates this beautifully. God promised him a son through Sarah. As the years passed without the promise being fulfilled, Abraham and Sarah grew impatient. They tried to have a child through human means. Abraham bedded Sarah’s maidservant Hagar and fathered Ishmael. This decision brought heartache and strife. These are the consequences of following our way rather than resting in God’s ways. will. Faith and patience are essential for entering into God’s rest. These are not passive qualities. They describe the need to actively trust in God’s power and resist doing things our way.
Jesus invites: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” The rest Jesus offers is that which comes from walking in step with Him. His yoke is easy because He understands and bears our burdens. He teaches us to trust him through love and discipline.
But this rest requires surrender to Christ. We must choose to give up our own way. We no longer have to control things or depend on our own efforts. We choose to follow God’s directions humbly and unquestioningly. This act of surrender, though difficult, leads to life. As Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” True rest is found in being loved by him. This draws us to love him and trustfully obey him.
In our daily lives, we must choose to rest when tempted to be anxious. We need to trust God’s promise that he is with us. Sometimes we have to choose to pray and not panic. Sometimes we have to show grace to others who do not deserve it. Our hearts must be disciplined to rest in God’s sovereignty. We must trust that He is at work even when we can’t see the full picture.
As we strive to enter into His rest, let us remember that it doesn’t mean there are no challenges. Instead, it means the presence of faith. It is the quiet confidence that God’s work is complete. It is the assurance that His promises are sure, and His plans for us are good. When we align our hearts with this truth, we can experience the peace that surpasses all understanding despite fierce trials.
Let us choose his way rather than our own leading. Our way leads only to striving and unrest; his way to peace and life. Let us gladly say with all our hearts, “Lord, have Your way.” So we shall enter into his rest. God bless.