Daily Nuggets of Grace Part 7: Fruitful! Chikamu

Rest and be Restored

"I just need a holiday!" How many times have you thought that? The average global citizen spends 90,000 hours working – Cambodians a lot more, Germans a lot less.

Wherever you are, Jesus' words, "Come to me… and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28), are like a ray of light in the dark busyness of our minds. An easy yoke? A light burden? Rest for my soul? Yes, please!

We dream of escape, getting away from it all. But the promised rest is so fleeting – as soon as we're back, weariness soon sets in again. Something's not right. It turns out that escaping on a holiday is not rest at all.

There's a clue in the word "holiday.” The Bible has much to say about taking a "holy day," a sabbath. Genesis 1 culminates with God making humankind in His image before He rested. That doesn't mean He hung a hammock between two palms on a beautiful beach to escape it all. He was at rest, knowing His work was complete. All was as it should be.

He then set the seventh day apart and made it holy. It wasn't so much a "day off" for Adam as it was his first "day on" – a day to experience God's goodness and provision. Only then could he be fruitful.

But there's a second aspect of rest that we often miss. Jesus spoke of it - an easy "yoke," a light "burden." Rest isn't the absence of all activity; work is still involved.

Hebrews 3-4 gives us a fuller picture, telling us to "strive" to enter God's rest. It might sound like an oxymoron, but this is rest as His Promised Land, a place of our obedience walking in His calling and His provision. There will still be battles to fight and giants to slay, but it's a place of release from striving for what God has already done.

We enter God’s rest when we trust Him for all He's promised.

We need both aspects to fully embrace rest. We need to embrace the holy day, experiencing God’s goodness and provision. We also need to take on the easy yoke and light burden of Jesus. We can trust Him fully as we work out His calling in our lives.

Reflect and Respond

Have you pursued escapism as counterfeit rest? Do you need to commit a day for a sabbath rest? What is the promised land that God has called you to enter, the center of His will for you? For there, you will find His rest.

Pray

Heavenly Father, forgive me for striving to escape rather than enter your rest. Please guide me to the place of my promised land where I can genuinely encounter rest.