Did you ever notice that there’s no evening or morning described in the seventh day in Genesis?
That’s because we’re still in the seventh day…when God rested from His works. He’s not working anymore.
And we were created to live in this rest.
Here’s what God says says about this place in time…
“And on the seventh day God ended His work
which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day
from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,
because in it He rested from all His work
which God had created and made.” (Gen.2:2-3 NKJV)
Did you see that? God ended His work. And that’s my point, it’s still ended. We’re still living in God’s seventh day. From God’s point of view, everything from that point on is done from this place of rest.
So my question is, beloved of God, why aren’t you resting too?
For until we value rest we won’t understand the ways and rhythms of God. Abiding in Christ isn’t just important, it’s everything–all His activity proceeds from here.
And doing “more for God” is actually doing nothing at all apart from this place of rest.
Not living from rest is eating from the wrong tree–the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. For eating from the Tree of Life can only be done in this place or rest.
Did you also notice that God never does anything out of “have to”or “ought to”…or out of compulsion, desperation, frustration, anxiety or fear?
He is free. And so are we…in Him.
Here’s Jesus’ words reverberating through time and space to us…
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
29 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.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt.11:28-30 NIV)
So, which describes your life? Weary and burdened or easy and light? This will tell you very objectively whose yoke you’ve been taking on in your life.
Yeah, we all have a yoke. It’s just a matter of which one.
Beloved, can you learn from Him?
Can you take on His yoke of rest?
Hebrews says there’s a place of rest for the people of God (Heb.4:1). This is the place where He lives and where we find our life in Him.
I invite you to take some time to rest…here…today…now.
Don’t be in such a rush. It can wait….
I will end by sharing another audio clip from our worship last Sunday. It’s not a professional studio recording, only edited for length. It starts with a brief impromptu devotional from our worship pastor, Levi. What an awesome prayer. Then Christi beautifully sings the Kari Jobe song, “Here” over us. I’ve included the lyrics also.
Let Abba sing over you. Let the words wash over your weary soul.
You are not alone anymore.
And He so longs for you to not be afraid anymore…to jump up in His lap and just breathe in…breathe out…and rest.
You will find Him here.
Performance licensed through 
Here
by David Leonard, Kari Jobe, Leslie Jordan
© 2012 Worship Together Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)
Come and rest here
Come and lay your burdens down
Come and rest here
There is refuge for you now
You’ll find His peace
And know you’re not alone anymore
He is near
You’ll find His healing
Your heart isn’t shattered anymore
He is here
Breathe in breathe out
You will you will find Him here
I will rest in You
I will rest in You
I will rest in You
I will rest in You
You will find Him
You will find Him here
Yeah
You will find Him
You will find Him here
It’s late here, very late and I can’t sleep. My mind is churning over stuff and then I read this, ha ha… think God might be saying something… “time to trust me and enter my rest”. On that note good night.
Glad I could be of help. 🙂 Have a wonderful rest.
Mel, there are times when the words you use cause a little “bristling” in me. And that is why I will continue to read your posts. Because I know you are connected, and I know we are connected – so it causes me to ponder “why” much more than when I nod, click “Like” and move on (if that makes any sense!).
Thank you for the ponder! 🙂
You’re welcome, Paul. Welcome to the mystery! Glad I could help in the pondering. 🙂
Blessings.
I love this! Sometimes we don’t think about it this way but rest isn’t just a physical need for all of us, but even more so, a spiritual one. We can’t live out the life God calls us to daily if we continue being burdened with our schedules and to do list’s and forget to take some much needed time to simply relax and be renewed. We will always have a yoke to carry but it’s up to us which one it will be, His or ours. And His is always better because we don’t have to carry it alone. Thanks for this post! Be blessed!
Thanks Anna. Yes, this kind of rest means that we stop our striving, stopping our “should do’s” and ought to’s” of performance Christianity, trying to serve God with our “to-do” lists. This is how a spiritual orphan relates to God. But as I learn to rest in His embrace as a fully affirmed son/daughter with nothing to prove, I can do my heart’s desire because my heart is now held in His. This is actually the direct opposite of the way I lived most of my Christian life and how I was taught in thousands of messages I’ve probably heard over the last 35 years.
But I’m “de-toxing”..slowly… and learning how to work from rest. :).
” as I learn to rest in His embrace as a fully affirmed son/daughter with nothing to prove, I can do my heart’s desire because my heart is now held in His.” Nothing to prove. Yes, that is true rest, and true love at its very best. Another great one, Mel.
Thanks, Susan. Your affirmation is always much appreciated. 🙂 Blessings.
“The Rest of the Gospel” awesome book on the subject by Dan Stone
I will need to check him out. Thanks.