There remains therefore a rest for the people of God:—Hebrews 4:9
Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.—Hebrews 4:11
The scripture that precede verse 11 make it clear that there is a rest for the people of God. I want to spend a lot of time here. I want to really “get” what this chapter is saying. Or better, I want to really understand what a God is saying to me here. We who believe DO enter His rest. (Vs3) As believers we will enter our eternal rest in heaven when our life here on earth comes to an end. But what about while we are here? Is there a rest here for us in this vale of tears? The Bible says yes and it tells here that we enter His rest in this life by ceasing from our works and relying on God...By “diligently” believing...by appropriating the promises in His word into our hearts by faith. Quite simply, we enter His rest TODAY by moment by moment trusting God to be faithful and true to His word to us. I am not good yet at being “diligent” to appropriate His promises by faith as I face the trials and troubles that are part and parcel with life in this fallen world. It takes practice to do this. I wrote this in the margin of my Bible next to verse 11 many years ago. It stopped me this morning and made me think.
“Effortfully put aside self-reliance - this takes absolute surrender!”
THAT is why I am not good at trusting God. I am not good at it because it takes absolute surrender. I hear those words “absolute surrender” and I soooo want them to be mine. I want them to describe my walk. That is a good thing to want. God hears my heart and since it is He who works in me both to will and to do for His good pleasure it is His job to get me there. My job is effortfully put aside my self reliance and to trust God and His promises to me as a believer. When the people asked Jesus in John 6 "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." Praying I can be diligent to enter that rest by believing God. David Guzik says this about verse 11:
“The rest is there, but God does not force it upon us. We must enter that rest. Clearly, the rest is entered by faith; but it takes diligent faith. This shows us that faith is not passive; it takes diligence to trust in, rely on, and cling to Jesus and His work for us.”
Continuing on in Chapter 4 of Hebrews, verses 11 and 12 say this:
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Now I read these words as both an admonition and a warning. As an admonition they tell me that spending time in His word will reveal to me my heart. God meets me here and His Spirit speaks truth over my weaknesses and into my life. His word is living powerful and when I receive it with meekness His Spirit uses it to work Gods desires in my heart and in my life. As a warning it tells me that God sees all. He sees my heart...nothing is hidden from Him. He shows me where I am believing and exposes where I am rebelling.
The next verses speak to Jesus, our Great High Priest, who was tempted in all points as we are and yet was without sin. He understands all of what we go through here on earth. He sympathizes with our weaknesses and exhorts us to come boldly to Him to obtain mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. We go to Him who died to save us and who lives to intercede for us before our Father in heaven. His mercy covers the things we should not have done and His grace empowers us to do what we should and want to do but don’t have the power to do. You can’t ask for more than that.
And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."—Exodus 33:14
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name's sake.—Psalm 23:2-3
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
Praise the LORD!—Ps 104:35
