When Rest Speaks
Last week I shared about God’s presence and how I have been walking in a season of silence with Him. I’d ask Him questions and hear silence. So, I took the cue to sit with Him and not ask for anything. It has been hard to do that without distraction. To just “BE” with Him. I have to fight for that space especially in my mind. Well, friends something interesting happened in this place of “being”.
On Wednesday morning, a dear friend sent me a text. She asked where I was with a particular project and offered assistance. I had been asking the Lord about this for a while but He had not given me an answer on when this needed to be executed. It had been on pause for a while. The moment I read my friend’s text, He answered. I was stunned. I hadn’t asked about that project that morning, but He gave me the answer from a place of rest in Him.
I kept playing this over and over in my head. The Lord could have answered in a million different ways but He choose to do it in partnership with my friend. In her obedience to send the text, I heard the answer. I excitedly texted my friend back telling her what happened and the answer I received. She responded that she had heard the same answer! 🤯🤯🤯
Now, I’ll never proclaim to fully understand why the Lord does things in the way He does, but I do know that His ways and thoughts are much higher than mine (Isaiah 55:8-9). As a result, I am grateful for my friend’s obedience, and I now have the peace to proceed with this project. I tell you what, life with Jesus is never boring!
This “being” with Him is not new. It’s rest. Rest in Him. We get incredible puschback in rest. It’s counter-cultural. It’s seemingly anti-productivity.
The truth is rest is fruitful.
Rest is healing.
Rest is exponential.
Hebrews 4 is one of my favorite chapters in the bible. I particularly like the Complete Jewish Bible translation. In the following verses, a warning is given not to fall short of rest as the Israelite exiles from Egypt did by failing to combine the Good News with trust.
Therefore, let us be terrified of the possibility that, even though the promise of entering his rest remains, any one of you might be judged to have fallen short of it; for Good News has also been proclaimed to us, just as it was to them. But the message they heard didn’t do them any good, because those who heard it did not combine it with trust. – Hebrews 4:1-2 CJB
It’s easy to read the text and judge the Israelites but we have to take inventory of our own faith.
Are we combining the Good News with trust?
I have a telltale sign: When I clench my jaw, I know I have left the place of rest in the Lord. When I catch that, I have to make time to sit with the Lord and ask Him to show me what the cause of my jaw clenching is. Friends, it is almost always a lack of faith in Him or an offense I’ve taken up from something someone said or did.
How about you, friend? Are you in rest?
If so, how do you know when you have come out of rest? What’s your telltale sign?
If you’re not in rest, what’s stopping you from entering in?
Until next week …
Miracles + Blessings!
Brenda
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