Hebrews 4 was my scheduled New Testament reading for today, a chapter that focuses on entering God’s rest. Rest is a treasured truth for me right now, as I deal with a painful mouth ulcer that is not healing as I’ve hoped it will. I need to experience God’s rest, so that I don’t end up trying to handle this problem in my own strength.
Remember, biblical chapter numbers were not in the original text. So when a chapter begins with the word “Therefore” you need to look back to the previous chapter to see what it was “there-for.”
Context is another important key to understanding the meaning of a passage. The following verses will make more sense if before reading them you read Hebrews 3:7-19 and Hebrews 4.
These verses help us understand God’s Rest:
“And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”
“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.”
“So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” Hebrews 3:18-19; 4:1-2; 9-11 ESV
“Therefore” in Hebrews 4:1 refers back to the text on entering rest in Hebrews 3:7-19. I thought verses 18-19 summed up the message of the entire section. To enter God’s rest, faith is the key. But unbelief and disobedience are closely connected. Disobedience is the Greek word apeitheia, which literally means “the condition of being unpersuadable.”
To be unpersuadable is to obstinately reject the will of God. This is caused by unbelief, and the effect of unbelief is disobedience. Therefore, because of this cause and effect relationship, stubbornly being unpersuadable is the root of both of these decisions. I hope you will read the following affirmation aloud, as an expression of your submission to the will of God for your life.
My Affirmation:
When God speaks, I will not stubbornly refuse to be persuaded of His message. I will respond with both faith and obedience. When I do this, God has promised I will by faith enter His Sabbath rest, resting from my own works and resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. In this way, I will be led and empowered to accomplish God’s will for my life.
My New Testament Bible reading this morning was Philippians 2. This is a chapter I’ve studied many times, but as I was reading it this morning, verses 12-13 stood out to me. What exactly does it mean to “work out your own salvation?” So I did some studying to make sure I understood the true meaning of these verses.
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12-13 ESV
First, I looked up the Greek word for “work out” using the Blue Letter Bible, and I learned it means “to do that from which something results.” Further research gave me this meaning: “to carry out to its full perfection.” This obviously does not refer to earning our salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it clear that we were saved by grace through faith, no works on our part are involved.
So what exactly does it mean work out your own salvation? To answer this question, we need to look at the tenses of salvation. Salvation has three tenses: past, present, and future.
PAST SALVATION is also known as JUSTIFICATION. If you are a Christians, this means that all of your sins have been forgiven by faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This past tense of salvation applies to everyone who has come to Jesus for forgiveness of sins and is “by grace through faith“. No matter how many good works we do, we cannot earn this stage of salvation. It is a free gift of grace. We have been delivered from both slavery to sin and its PENALTY.
PRESENT SALVATION is the tense of salvation described in Philippians 2:12-13. Basically, it is DELIVERANCE from the POWER of sin, in which we have a part. This stage is also known as SANCTIFICATION. I’ll go into more detail about this in a minute.
FUTURE SALVATION is also known as GLORIFICATION. It happens when we see Jesus face-to-face, and we receive our new bodies that will be FREE FROM ALL OF SIN’S CORRUPTION. In Romans 8:23 Paul calls this the “redemption of the body.”
Philippians 2:12-13 is about the stage of salvation in which you are currently living, if you are a genuine Christian. And these verses give us an essential key to how we are changed into the image of Christ. PRESENT SALVATION or SANCTIFICATION includes more than a mere moral change of character, brought about by learning the truth of God’s Word. The words “work out” are important. We can only “workout” what Christ has already put within. We have a part in this second stage of salvation, but Scripture says it is primarily a work of the Holy Spirit.
“And such were some of you (referring to the unrighteous, see verses 10-11). But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV
SANCTIFICATION is the stage of salvation in which we have HUMANRESPONSIBILITY, combined with DIVINE RESOURCES. The Holy Spirit Who lives within us works in our will, to bring each of us to a place of surrender to the will of God. Then He gives us the capability to do what He has called us to do; i.e., to “work out” what He has “workedin.”
There was two main areas included in this stage of salvation: (1) Being conformed to the image of Christ (see Romans 8:29), and (2) Completing the good work that God planned for us even before we were born (see Ephesians 2:10).
I want to close with a unique illustration on which makes it clear that this process of sanctification is Spirit-empowered and also requires our obedience to the teaching and leading of the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is from one of my favorite resources for quotes or in-depth study of Scripture verses or passages, https://www.preceptaustin.org/observation
“There are some Christians whose lives are like a parked (or stalled) car – if God wants them to move down the road of life, He will have to push them Himself.
“Others live the Christian life by keeping their car washed and polished—looking good on the outside—but they fail to give proper attention to the engine that supplies the power.
“Still others live the Christian life by holding the steering wheel and patiently waiting for instructions on where and when to go. Their car has been gassed up by the presence of the Holy Spirit (Php 2:13) Who freely gives His power and counsel for the journey ahead: a lifetime of adventure in the Spirit!
“Are you like that parked car? Are you stalled on the highway to holiness? Are you waiting for a push (a “Let go and let God” mindset)? Even worse, are you trying to push your car down the road of life in your own natural energy?
“Or is your life one that looks good on the outside but lacks the Spirit’s power on the inside? Your most successful life journey will be to begin to sit prayerfully in the presence of His Word and to daily learn to use His Spirit’s energizing supernatural power and counsel to work out your salvation.
“The only thing the Lord will not provide is the decision to sit behind the wheel, turn on the ignition and drive. This is a choice of the will that each one of us must make, but God even gives us that desire. But we still have the choice to act on His desire or to act on our won desire. The choice is yours.”
Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’” Genesis 12:1 (ESV)
The above verse has had special meaning to my husband and me recently. We sensed the Lord’s call for us to sell our Houston home and move to a new town. We knew a little about our new home: that it was to be a rural property in Texas, and we were not to go into debt to purchase it.
Texas is a big state with a lot of rural property! We began our search for a house that met these qualities and had a sale price within our budget. We saw several homes that we liked, but since we didn’t have clear understanding of where we were to live, we looked at property in many parts of Texas. Just recently, the Lord has shown us where our new home is to be and directed us to a specific piece of property.
Genesis 12:1 is more than a verse we’ve remembered many times over the last several months. It is the first time the Hebrew word Adonai was used in the Bible as a name of God. Adonai is plural of Adon, which is mostly used to refer to men who are Master over their servants. The plural form of Adonai refers to God’s greatness as Master. The plural form could also refer to the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all are God our Master and Lord.
So what does it mean when we call God Lord or Master? Adonai speaks of relationship, but not just any relationship. It is used to describe our relationship with God as our Lord and Master. As Master, God is the one with the right of possession. As Master, He provides for us and protects us. He gives directions that we are to follow. He is our Supreme Lord, Owner of all, and we areHis servants. We are stewards who have been declared worthy to serve Him.
In the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as Lord over 700 times. The Greek equivalent to Adonai is Kurios. It signifies sovereign power, supreme authority, and absolute ownership. He is Lord and Master, we are servants and stewards of Christ.
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 says, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.”
I want to close with one of my favorite passages that uses Adonai, Psalm 8. The Complete Jewish Bible uses the Hebrew word for Lord, so it’s easy to see when it is used. Also note that the heading of the Psalm is included as a part of the text, verse 1, of the Psalm in this and other Jewish versions of the Bible.
“For the leader. On the gittit. A psalm of David: Adonai! Our Lord! How glorious is your name throughout the earth! The fame of your majesty spreads even above the heavens! From the mouths of babies and infants at the breast you established strength because of your foes, in order that you might silence the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place — what are mere mortals, that you concern yourself with them; humans, that you watch over them with such care? You made him but little lower than the angels, you crowned him with glory and honor, you had him rule what your hands made, you put everything under his feet — sheep and oxen, all of them, also the animals in the wilds, the birds in the air, the fish in the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. Adonai! Our Lord! How glorious is your name throughout the earth!” Tehillim (Psa) 8:1-10
My scheduled Bible reading this morning was Luke 19. Though I usually use ESV for reading and listening to my daily Scriptures, using the YouVersion Bible app, today my app was set to KJV. And as I was listening to the reading of the Parable of the Ten Minas, one phrase jumped out at me. “OCCUPY TILL I COME.”
Though this is a familiar phrase, I had never before realized where it was located, partly because modern versions don’t use this wording. Jesus and His disciples were on their way to the Mount of Olives, walking along the road and using this parable to talk to the twelve who had followed Him during His years of ministry. By now, the disciples knew that Jesus’ parables had a purpose. Jesus spoke to the crowds “in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” (Matthew 13:13 ESV) Likely there were unbelieving Jews along the road, and this was a message for the disciples (then and future) alone.
Jesus was about to send two of His disciples into the village to get the colt He would ride on the day we now know as Palm Sunday. Jesus was facing His crucifixion, about a week away, and He was doing more than telling a story. He was preparing His disciples for the time when He would no longer be physically with them. They would see Jesus suffer and die on the cross, be raised from the dead, and just before the ascension be commissioned for the work of being His witnesses, starting in Jerusalem and moving out from there to the nations around the world.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 ESV
The Greek word translated “occupy” means to “take care of business.” The business of being Christ’s witnesses is now our responsibility. Matthew 24:14 tells us, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
According to Joshua Project, there are approximately 17,446 unique people groups in the world. Over 7,400 of them considered unreached (over 41% of the world’s population!). Less than 10% of missionary work is done among these people. Jesus’ call to His disciples to occupy until the end comes and He returns, to occupy and take care of the business of the kingdom is still His call to His followers.
Are you obeying this call? You may not be able to go as a missionary to one of these unreached people groups. I know I’m physically unable to do this. But are you doing the “kingdom business” that God has called you to do? This was the message I heard from the Lord this morning. This is also my desire, to complete the work God has given me personally to do. Are you willing to “occupy till He comes?”
I’m currently reading “You’re Going to Be Okay: Encouraging Truth Your Heart Needs to Hear, Especially on the Hard Days,” by Holley Gerth. She had the clearest understanding of renewing the mind that I’ve ever read.
“The other day I pulled up to a railroad crossing just as a train came barreling through it. At the last minute, it screeched to a halt and an engineer jumped out of the first car. He ran to the track, made some adjustments, and hopped back in to continue the journey. As I looked closer, I could see exactly what he’d done – switched the track.
“Our thoughts are a lot like that train. They go speeding through life, and we don’t give much intentional focus to them. They run on automatic based on past experiences and how we’ve taught ourselves to respond to different situations. Every time you react a certain way, your brain makes a note of it. That means the thoughts you think most have the strongest tracks, and your mind automatically goes there.
“When you decide to ‘renew your mind,’ it means stepping off the train and switching the tracks. We have to do this again and again. Then at some point, your brain realizes that this is the new normal response, and it goes there automatically.”
The mind is renewed one area at a time, as we apply this process. Our thinking changes as we apply “the mind of Christ” to our circumstances or sin pattern. Then we do it again and again, until our thinking in this area conforms to the Word of God automatically. Our new normal response is no longer conformed to the ways of this world. Our thoughts in this area now line up with the “good and acceptable and perfect” will of God.
I was getting ready to leave this morning when a phone call suddenly changed my plans. My medical appointment was cancelled and rescheduled because the doctor was not available today.
As I began to shift my plans for the day, a term I’ve heard frequently in recent months came to mind. Cancel culture. What exactly is cancel culture?
I was surprised to find a definition on my Merriam-Webster Dictionary app. It defines cancel culture as “the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure.” The entry adds “This practice of ‘canceling’ or mass shaming often occurs on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.“
As Christians and political conservatives, our beliefs and convictions based on Scripture are no longer considered acceptable. In a culture that values the right to abortion and LGBTQ rights, Biblical beliefs are considered offensive and harmful. As Christians, our convictions based on Scripture are being censored as distasteful and even dangerous by the social media platforms that many of us use regularly.
While we may not yet be directly experiencing cancel culture personally, now is the time to determine how we will respond when it is applied to all who hold onto Biblical beliefs and convictions. If the social media giants have their way, we will quickly see mass canceling of all those whose beliefs do not line up with what is politically correct.
Canceling of Christian and politically conservative leaders from the popular social media platforms is already well underway, and unless there is a major change in our culture soon no Christian who stands by their Scriptural convictions will be exempt.
Our pastor has been preaching a series on the book of 1 Peter, which he calls “Following After Christ In a Non-Christian World.” The sad truth is that we are living in a post-Christian culture that no longer professes the values of Christianity. A Christian worldview is now considered offensive by the most vocal people in our nation – and in many other nations as well. When we use Scripture as our standard of genuine truth, we will find ourselves shamed and ostracized.
Let’s look at what Scripture says about this issue.
“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” 1 Peter 3:13-17 ESV
Be zealous for what is good. To be zealous for what is good is to have a focused desire, with passion and commitment to doing the will of God, which is always good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2). This isn’t a guarantee we will be spared from suffering, but rather a promise that we will be not be harmed eternally if we are called to suffer for righteousness’ sake.
We must choose to always honor Christ, by giving Him the respect and obedience that He deserves. He is holy, and He calls us to lives of holiness.
We need to be prepared to make a defense for the hope that is in us. The Greek word for “make a defense” is “apologia.” This is where we get the English word “apologetics,” which refers to the defense of the Christian faith. In other words, we need to know what we believe and how to explain to others why we believe it.
When we have the opportunity to explain to others what we believe and why we believe it, to give a reason for the hope that is within us, we are to do so with gentleness. Gentleness is better translated meekness, an English word that is often misunderstood as weakness. Biblical meekness is not weakness. Biblical meekness has been defined as “the patient and hopeful endurance of undesirable circumstances,” from an inner desire to please God. It is strength under God’s control.
We are also to share the reason for the hope within us, with a good conscience and without shrinking back in fear of rejection, always honoring the Lord and His Word.
Finally, this passage speaks of being willing to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will. Our decision to do good regardless of the consequences, to discern and then make a commitment to do the will of God as revealed in His Word may result in suffering.
There is one more truth that will determine how we live in this cancel culture. It comes from 1 Corinthians 15:14 ESV, “Let all that you do be done with love.” Dwight L. Moody said, “The world does not understand theology or dogma, but it understands love and sympathy.” Love alone has the power to break through the hardened heart with truth.
Are you currently facing the challenges of cancel culture? If so, determine to stand strong as you hold firmly to all that you believe.
Or, if you face this challenge in the future, are you making a commitment to truth as found in God’s Word. Are you ready to stand firm in your faith, to be brave and strong as you take advantage of opportunities to share truths from God’s Word?
Regardless of which situation you currently find yourself in, cancel culture is a challenge all Christians need to be prepared to face. Be alert. Hold firmly to the truths of Scripture, even in the midst of ridicule and shaming. And no matter what you face, remember that all you do is to be done in love.
During the month of July, I have been reading through the books of Psalms and Proverbs, and this morning’s reading included Psalm 90. I’ve been using the New Living Translation to get a fresh view of these Scriptures that I’ve read hundreds of times in the around fifty years that I’ve been a Christian.
Psalm 90 is the oldest of the Psalms. It was written by Moses, in the form of a prayer, and entitled From Everlasting to Everlasting. The first verses focus on the eternal nature of our God.
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Psalm 90:1-2 ESV
Moses starts with a reminder that no matter what circumstances we face, we have a safe dwelling place in the Lord. The New Living Translation calls it a home. In Him we have shelter and protection from danger or distress. The Creator of the earth and heavens calls us to come to Him and be secure.
The next verses are Moses prayer of lament over the brevity of life and the judgment of sins. This section ends with a reminder that our “secret sins” are not a secret to God.
“You spread out our sins before you— our secret sins—and you see them all. We live our lives beneath your wrath, ending our years with a groan.” Psalm 90:8-9 NLT
Then we come to the two verses that jumped out at me as I was reading them this morning.
“Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away… Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.” Psalm 90:10, 12 NLT
” Seventy years are given to us!” These are the words that seemed to jump off the page as I was reading this morning. And before I looked forward, the words “teach us to number our days” came to mind. I was surprised to see that this truth was only two verses ahead. Because of the brevity of life, and the fact that I turned seventy-two in February, the thought came that I am “living on borrowed time.” The time when I will “fly away” to be in the presence of the Lord could be any time.
Remembering how fragile our life on earth is a good reminder to appreciate the years and months and even the days I still have to complete the purposes of God for my life. I need to value every moment and live wisely and with purpose. Time is short, so I need to live with a sense of urgency, seeking God’s wisdom for each day’s tasks.
At age seventy-two, I’m well aware of the brevity of life. As I read these verses, 2 Corinthians 4:16 came to mind. It begins with a reminder not to lose heart when our outer self, our physical bodies, begin wasting away. In my own life, over the last year I’ve seen the cartilage in my knees waste away so that my knees are now basically bone on bone. How do we not lose heart in this situation? The key is remembering this life is not all there is.
Living with chronic illnesses such as arthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia, and an endless list of other infirmities, as many of you who read my blog do, is living with watching your bodies slowly waste away. But the good news is that’s not where the Apostle Paul ended this verse. He added the encouragement that our inner self is being renewed day by day.
If you are a Christian, one who has been forgiven and who has accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, your inner self is renewed as you spend time in God’s life-giving presence. Colossians 3:10 (ESV) says we “have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” Through prayer and reading the Bible, God’s written Word, your inner self, the part of you that was made for eternity, is being renewed daily by the Holy Spirit.
No matter how many years you have left on this earth, they are a brief moment compared to eternity. Don’t despair when you see your outer self wasting away. Instead, turn your focus on renewing your inner self and on doing the things that will count for eternity.
This week, we are coming to the end of our study of I Give Up: The Secret Joy of a Surrendered Life, by Laura Story.
Christian author Katherine J Walden said concerning surrender:
“The enemy knows that without surrender, we will never experience the freedom that God offers us. Without surrender, we will remain spiritually malnourished, ill and confused. Without surrender, our foxholes become prisons of the enemy’s making. Our lack of full surrender limits God’s ability to both work in our lives and through our lives.
“God’s call to surrender is not an intimidating, angry bark heard from the other side of a battlefield. God’s invitation to surrender is expressed through the example of his Son, Jesus, as described in Philippians 2:5-11.”
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11 NIV
The call to surrender is a call to live like Jesus lived. He willingly took on human flesh, taking on the very nature of a servant. He humbled himself by becoming obedient, even to the point of death on the Cross of Calvary. His choice to always do whatever his heavenly Father asked enabled him to be victorious.
The decision to live a lifestyle of surrender to God can simply be described as following Jesus. And by making this choice, we are set free to live in the freedom God offers us, to walk in the victory he gained.
A lifestyle of surrender is also a life of putting others before ourselves. As Laura Story says, surrender has a “ripple effect.” If you’ve ever thrown a stone in the water, you’ve noticed the ripple effect – with concentric circles going out from the place of contact. How we live matters, not only in our personal lives but also in the lives of those around us. As we follow Jesus’ example, we aren’t the only ones who are changed.
Philippians 2:5 mentions that the mindset of Christ Jesus is to make a difference in our relationships with one another. And to understand more clearly what that means, we just need to look at the two verses right before this passage about the mindset of Jesus.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Philippians 2:3-4 NIV
I wanted to close today with Laura Story’s latest song, one that reminds us of the victory that Jesus won on our behalf. As she says, “Our fears and our failures hang dead on the cross.” And because we were crucified with him, we are able to share in His life and His victory.Following Jesus is choosing the lifestyle he lived, a life of daily surrender to the will of God. And doing so means sharing in His victory, which includes all of the benefits that are a part of that.
Early in July, on the day before I was scheduled to go in for an MRI on my left knee, I heard the still, small voice of God speak a very clear message to my heart. Since the pain in that knee had gone from very mild to extremely severe overnight over a month before, I was ready for some answers. But what I heard wasn’t exactly what I was asking for in prayer. Instead, the Lord clearly spoke two verses of Scripture to my heart, with the strong impression that I was going to need to hold onto these to make it through the following months in victory. I immediately opened the Bible Memory app I use as a part of my daily quiet time, entered these two verses, and began memorizing them.
The first verse was Deuteronomy 31:8, which says (in NIV84, the version I frequently use when memorizing Scripture), “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
The second verse was today’s I Am Not Alone verse, Exodus 33:14. In the same version, it reads “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Since that day, though God has given me several other verses that have been helpful during this time of dealing with multiple health issues, these two verses have been the ones that I’ve returned to over and over and over again. So on Wednesday morning, when I looked on our list of verses for the I Am Not Alone Bible Reading Plan to find today’s verse, I didn’t need to stop first to look up the verse in my Bible. After reviewing this verse nearly daily since July 8th, I immediately recognized the Exodus 33:14 reference. “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Now, let’s dig a little deeper into the meaning of today’s verse. It contains two promises from God, first to the children of Israel to whom it was originally addressed, but as we’ll see later, also promises God has given us.
First, it says, “My presence will go with you.”
The children of Israel were on a journey. God had delivered them from bondage and oppression in Egypt, He had gone with them through a wilderness experience characterized by disobedience, dangers and drought, and now it was time for the final stage of the journey to begin, actually entering Canaan, the land of milk and honey God had promised His people.
But as Exodus 33 begins, God is not exactly happy with His people. Read these words God spoke to Moses at the beginning of this chapter.
“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” Exodus 33:1-3 ESV
So what happened between verse 3 and verse 14, today’s key verse? Moses interceded before God for the stiff-necked people he had been called to lead. A part of Moses’ prayer is recorded in verses 12-13.
“See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”
Basically, Moses was apprehensive about taking on the responsibility of leading God’s people into the promised land without God’s help, and he appealed to the mercy of God. He told Almighty God, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.” And today’s verse is God’s response. Moses’ prayer of intercession changed God’s mind.
As God’s people under the New Covenant, He has made the same promise to us, as the verses we have been studying this month have confirmed over and over again.
The second promise of today’s verse: “And I will give you rest.”
First, what exactly does the word “rest” mean as it is used in the Bible. There are several words both in the Old and New Testament, but for today I’m going to stick to the three that most directly apply to us.
The Hebrew word used in the Exodus 33, “nawach,” means “to rest, settle down and remain; to repose, have rest, be quiet.”
When Christ taught on entering rest, He used the Greek word “anapauō” which refers not to a “rest from work” but rather to a “rest in work.” Christ’s rest is not the rest of inactivity, but rather the inner rest of living in harmony with God.
But the word used in the Hebrews passage I’ll refer to later “katapausis” more closely parallels the Hebrew word used in Exodus 33 and includes the idea of “to cease, refresh, bequiet.”
God’s presence and His rest are inseparably joined in today’s verse. But there is also something required of us to enter God’s rest. Let’s look in the book of Hebrews for a clearer understanding of the process of entering God’s rest.
For the children of Israel, this was a promise of rest from the toils and dangers of the wilderness wanderings as they entered their promised land. Unfortunately, Hebrews 3:18-19 explains that they failed to enter His rest for two closely tied reasons, disobedience and unbelief.
The good news is that the account in Hebrews concerning entering God’s rest doesn’t end with these words. Hebrews 4 begins with a promise that the possibility of entering God’s rest still stands. These verses also include a warning for us, a reminder that entering God’s rest has the same two requirements for us that it had for Israel, faith which is demonstrated through obedience.
If it’s your desire to enter God’s rest in the midst of the sufferings and conflicts that are a part of life on this earth, take time today to open your Bible and read Hebrews 4:1-13. Remember, rest is found in God’s presence, but it also requires something from us.
As you read these verses, thank God for the gift of rest that He is offering you today, but also take some time to pray and ask God to show you if there is anything in your life that needs to be dealt with so that you can enter His rest. Any unbelief? Any disobedience to something He has clearly instructed you to do in His Word? God’s rest is one of the richest gifts He has offered His children. As Hebrews 4:11 (NLT) says, “So let us do our best to enter that rest.”
On this Thankful Thursday, let’s thank God for this gift of His rest and do our best to enter that rest.
I spent some time reading and praying yesterday about today’s Teach Me Tuesday post. If there has been one key truth God has been teaching me recently it’s that life and encouragement are found in the lessons He is teaching, not in the ideas that spring out of my own understanding. And yesterday was a day of not sensing any new truths to share.
This month, I’ve been focusing on the truth that we are not alone. This morning, as I did some personal study on this subject, one truth seemed to stand out. God promises to NEVER leave or forsake us. But He does not promise we will FEEL His presence daily. He will go before us to lead the way, be with us in every circumstance we face, but there are times when our awareness of His presence will be missing. So what are we to do during such times?
As I prayed about this earlier today, three things came to mind.
1. When God is silent, remember He is still there. Keep seeking His face.
2. Go back to the last thing(s) He spoke to you, and be sure you are walking out the previous truths He has shown you.
3. Rest in the Lord as you wait for His next instructions.
One of the recurring messages I’ve heard over the past two and a half months is that faith doesn’t focus far into the future. Faith is walking in obedience to the steps God has already revealed. As Joni Eareckson Tada has said, “it’s simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step.” Sometimes, God is waiting for us to get moving so He can continue to lead us into the future He has for us.
HOPE & LIGHT 