I have been privileged to attend a retreat organized by my church this weekend. It was not a full weekend retreat, and it was not wired to a specific audience, rather it was a church wide retreat where both single, married, families and kids could come together as one and get to know one another deeper. It was also a time to be away from the busyness of life. Ironically, this year, the theme or the topic was on rest. Essentially, teachings have been focused on how to incorporate rest in our hurried culture, our busy-saturated culture. As I am writing this, I realize that it is not a given to rest and to rest is as much a gift from God as to enjoy life is as the book of Ecclesiastes reminds us (Ecclesiastes 5:19). So, today, I too would like to encourage you to cultivate a culture of rest because it is a good gift from our Father, it is an invitation from the Father to lean on Him, dwell in Him and enjoy Him.
I have been reading the book of Hosea lately and I was struck in the second chapter at how God calls us to the desert which is often rendered as wilderness in other passages. He says, “therefore I am going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.” (Hosea 2:14). I was amazed that the “desert”, which we usually see as a “bad” place is a place where the Lord lures us to speak to our hearts. It is in the desert that we are able to listen to the Lord speaking to us. As a matter of fact, Jesus constantly withdrew himself to the ‘desert’ or the wilderness to be with the Father. The desert is also synonymous to a solitary place and it is interesting to see that God wants us to come to a place where there are no distraction so He can have us to Himself. He wants the whole us, the complete us. I am grateful for that. We need to be away from the busyness of life before God can speak tenderly to our hearts. I don’t know if you are able to see the goodness and love of God from this invitation, but I assure you, the Father is good, and His mercies endure forever. During his ministry on this earth, Jesus often revealed the heart of the Father to give us rest. He said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). Rest is something the Father wants for us. Apart from the fact that it is also a command for us to rest on the Sabbath, it is important to God. The Father knows true rest is only found in Him. The ultimate rest He gives us is the rest of eternal life and communion with Him. Since the fall of man, sin created a separation between God and man, it disrupted the union God had with man in the garden of Eden and its rampant effect can be seen in our lives today: we are restless, dissatisfied, constantly searching for meaning. That pure relationship was broken and rest, which can only be found in God, departed from man, hence the multiple toils. Restlessness became the friend of man. In His goodness and mercy, God made a way to repair the broken relationship and the restlessness that we humans endure. He sent His one and only Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us sinners and to secure eternal life for us. Because of Jesus, we can now be sure to enter into God’s rest (Hebrews 4:10) if we confess our sins and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead. The goodness of God, not only secures our salvation but also our eternal rest. We will finally be satisfied in God fully. Our souls will be at rest, our lives will finally find the true meaning and essence for which they were created. God’s rest brings stability, it brings enjoyment, it brings joy.
I don’t know what you have been toiling for lately. I don’t know what your drive is everyday, I don’t know “the chasing after the wind” that you feel compelled to do everyday but if that toiling and seeking, searching and busyness is not in Christ or about Christ then I am afraid to say that you have been toiling in vain as Solomon would say, “vanity, all is vanity”. Our race for quick comfort, pleasure, fulfilment of our desires to be loved by our peers will only bring more and more dissatisfaction and restlessness to us. True rest is found in Christ, it is found in the One who knew us before our mother conceived us; it is found in the One whose love is so strong that it can never be separated by anything, not even life or death (Romans 8:38); it is found in the One from whose presence we can never run away because He is everywhere (Psalm 139:7-10). So, slow down, go to the Father, spend time with Him in prayer, meditation of the word, singing. Focus on Him and on the things above as Colossians reminds us to do and you will find rest in Him; you will find peace in Him; you will find what your heart has been longing for. Your heavenly Father loves you, He has made a way for you to come to Him, He has initiated the relationship, so run to Him. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. You will not find any other God like Him because there is no one! He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the mighty One, the great I AM, and yet, He is stretching forth His arm to welcome you in His presence. Would you say yes to Him? Would you prioritize Him above your friends? Your phone? Your kids? Your spouse? Your relationships? Your career? Your ministry? Etc.? Whatever it is that takes much of your time, would you respond to the call of your Father to rest in Him and be in His presence? I pray that the Holy Spirit creates in your heart a longing to come to Him and may He give you the strength to do that and be satisfied in Him. Amen!
A Word Aptly Spoken 