Are you tired? Do you need rest? Are you striving for peace but feel like an ADHD human, unable to be still? Is your task list overwhelming each day?
Hebrews 4:1-7,11-16 NLT
God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it.
You can access the only One who can prepare your rest. That was Gods plan, in the beginning, to have an amazing loving relationship with His son and daughter, Adam and Eve. But the sin of pride, took both humans created in His image from the garden of Eden, there was a consequence. They didn’t listen to God to stay away from the tree of knowledge.
2] For this good news-that God has prepared this rest-has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. [3] For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, “In my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest,'” even though this rest has been ready since he made the world.
4] We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” [5] But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.” [6] So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God.
God gave another chance through David, but even though he was a man after Gods own heart, he sinned in an adulterous relationship and murdered a man.
Hardened hearts make it hard to follow God. Unfortunately, this is the same problem in our lives.
7] So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.”
God wants to give us rest, we must follow His ways, because He knows what is best for us, He loves us. David did not have the luxury of a Bible to follow the wisdom of God. I’m grateful we can learn from the lives before us. Choices, mistakes, consequences, unconditional love, Grace, mercy, forgiveness are shown in the stories written in scripture.
11] So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
We all fall from perfection as humans, but God gives us His Word which is all powerful, it cuts between soul and spirit and exposes our fleshy nature.
12] For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. [13] Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
Even knowing we are created in the Image of God and with sinful potential, God sent His Son, Jesus as the bridge for our relationship with our Father God. What an amazing gift of grace, freely given to us, His children. Jesus is the High Priest of heaven.
14] So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. [15] This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
Don’t be afraid to bend your knee and ask Jesus to be the authority in your life. He loves you so much that He died a sinners death on the cross. We need Him.
16] So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
So are you weary, tired of doing life alone? Call out to Jesus, allow Him to transform your life.
Jesus talked to His Father in scripture about being willing to help His children. Our burdens can be so exhausting, but Jesus wants to help you carry the load and bring you wisdom from God.
Matthew 11:27-30 NLT
“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” [28] Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
When my kids were little someone exposed me to Scripture Lullabies, a wonderful musical artist that combines scripture and music. “I will never leave you” is one of my favorites. You don’t need to be an infant to enjoy this song and the truth of God’s love that is unconditional for each of us.
We truly can’t do life alone. Being self sufficient has an endpoint. Let Jesus carry you!
Photo credit by Mary Mesikapp
Inspiring Light Through the Cracks 