Yesterday, we affirmed that God has the most amazing plan for self-care for our body, soul, and spirit. He designed us in His image and for HIS glory. We are to diligently pursue His methods for self-care, which are designed to give us real peace and satisfaction.
God offers us supernatural rest which transcends earthly circumstances, and we are commanded to DILIGENTLY pursue it. (Hebrews 4:11)
How do we pursue God’s rest? Well, let’s examine the context of Hebrews Chapters 3 and 4 where the word “entering rest” is mentioned 11 times. The Israelites, who God rescued from Egypt, did NOT enter into the rest of the Promised Land for two reasons. The Bible explains:
“And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
Hebrews 3:18-19
We submit ourselves to what we believe in most. If we believe money is important, we get up and go to work; if we believe our child is important, we set aside our own needs to care for him; if we believe having more friends is important, we work hard to be kind; if we believe looking good is important, we spend time and money investing in a gym and new clothes. What we think is most important will be reflected in what we do. We obey what we love. If our greatest faith is in God, then we will submit to His ways and our entire life will reflect that belief.
This is why it is so remarkable that God identifies “unbelief” and NOT — marauding murdering tribes, death, famine, or calamity—as the thief of the rest God had planned for them in the Promised Land!
You see, God can handle all the external enemies. But WE control who or what we love most and thus, what we believe in! The fact is we DO what we BELIEVE works. It’s interesting that the Bible identified unbelief as THE reason and didn’t even cite their seemingly more odious sins like worship of a golden calf or bellyaching about God’s provision of manna. Again, God didn’t cite any of the usual suspects that we think prevent our rest—chaos, calamity, war, stress, work, etc.
God’s Word is brilliant in pointing us to our unbelief in Him as the pivotal cause of our inability to find His rest.
When we have chosen to find rest in anything but God—we will NEVER enter into HIS rest. If we are unable to find rest, it’s a clear indication we are believing in the wrong source to find rest. We won’t find rest for our soul by placing our belief in this physical world. If we believe we will, we’re like a baby cuddling up to a grizzly bear for warmth when the bear simply intends to make us his next meal. It doesn’t matter what you believe about the bear—he will eat you. If your primary faith is in the things of this world—you will be eaten alive by anxiety.
But God gives us a promise that when our greatest faith is in HIM, we will enter HIS rest. Hebrews Chapter 4 explains:
“Therefore, since a PROMISE REMAINS of entering HIS rest, let us FEAR lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them [Jews who had been rescued from Egypt]; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.”
Hebrews 4:1-2
What then is this “faith” which galvanizes belief and thus, leads us into rest?
Many of us say we have faith in God but the proof is in what we do. The even better proof is in the level of peace we possess. It’s kind of funny that as I’m typing these words, in the back of my mind, I’m fighting off the stress of a current problem I’ve been dealing with for a month. I’m fighting to keep my rest in God. Ah, this is evidence that our daily journey is the battlefield in our quest for God’s rest! This means that God’s recipe for self-care involves engaging our faith in Him in more than just a superficial sense. It’s not just saying “I have faith in God.”
Tomorrow, we will discuss what engaging deep faith in God looks like!
