Rest

There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God.

Hebrews 4:9 (KJ21)

Rest means to cease working or moving “in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength.” Stop working, running around doing errands, going to parties/get-togethers/hang-out-times with friends… Sit down and relax; have some “me-time”–and God-time. Set aside some things, say “no” to some things, and “hang out” with God. Refresh yourself and recover strength.

Rest means to leave a problem/subject without further discussion (let the matter rest). Have you ever met somebody who can’t let things go? I don’t mean they literally can’t let go of anything they grab hold of, like their fork or your arm or something. I mean they keep bringing up times something bad happened or somebody hurt them/said something that offended them, etc. They can’t–won’t–let the matter rest.
Drop it; let it be; forget it; let the past be the past! Leave the problem/subject without further discussion. (Well, okay, there’s times you can’t just leave it; you have to take care of it. But then stop bringing it up!) Let God work things out.

Rest means to “be based on or grounded in; depend on” and “place hope, trust, or confidence in or on.” Depend on God. Make your life based on what He wants; be grounded in His Word. Place your hope, your trust, your confidence–everything!–in Him. Rest in Him, in the knowledge that He’s in control and He’ll take care of you because He loves you.

You can rest your eyes/gaze on someone or something. Look at Jesus. Don’t focus on your problems, on the storm, on what others are doing and saying. Just look at Jesus; don’t take your eyes off Him. Gaze at Him so you can know what He’s like and so you can become like Him.

There’s a short poem that says there is a place of calm in the middle of the tornado or hurricane (the eye of the storm), and in the middle of our storms we can rest in peace–in God’s hand.

We can have rest even in the middle of storms, of dark nights, of the crazy busyness of life. We can be resting even if we’re not actually lying down and taking a nap.

And someday–some wonderful day–we will have total, complete rest. No more storms, no trials, no temptations, no pain… God will wipe away all our tears (Revelation 21:4), and we will sit at His feet and worship forever.

There is rest for God’s children.

*Thanks, Google, for the definitions!😄*