REST

God taught me the significance of rest as He revealed Himself as the creator of Sabbath. The word ‘Sabbath’ is connected to the verb “to cease, desist, rest”. Early last year, Noel and I prayed, for God to give us rest as we planned and look forward to our holiday this month of February, to rest from our daily job and ministry and to dedicate this time to God as we give thanks and celebrate the milestones He had given us all by His grace. From the time we booked and finalised our trip about nine months ago, a lot of things have changed and happened. But one thing remains God’s unfailing love and truth.

The Lord revealed rest to me as:

R - release

E - endure

S - surrender

T - trust

Release

Release all my burdens to Him. As Jesus promised in Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…” Jesus promised here that when we come to Him, we will find rest. We can take His yoke for it is easy to bear and the load is not hard to carry.

Endure

Endure through all seasons. The story of Jesus and Peter walking on water taught me lessons about faith (Matthew 14:22-32). Peter had bold faith to step out of the boat and walked on water because his gaze at that moment was on Jesus, and so he did walk on water. But he got distracted by the strong wind and took his eyes away from Jesus, so he started to sink. But Jesus full of love and grace immediately saved him. I realised that it’s not only a matter of bold faith but a faith that endures, and we can only endure through all seasons of life when our eyes are fixed on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith (read Hebrews 12:1-2).

Surrender

Surrender to God’s sovereignty. Jesus modeled this in His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, “Father if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will but Yours be done.” We can rest knowing that God is sovereign. One of my favourite promises in the Bible is found in 2 Timothy 2:13 “If we are faithless, He remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself.” God’s character doesn’t depend on our feelings or circumstances. He is always faithful and we couldn’t change that or nothing can. So we can rest in His goodness, knowing that He is a faithful God and in Him all things hold together.

Trust

Trust in God’s perfect will. Another thing I’ve learned prior to Jesus and Peter walking on water was that, Jesus made the disciples go into the boat and go before Him. Then when they were far away from the land a strong wind had risen and they were fighting heavy waves. They were in the middle of the Lord’s will (they obeyed Jesus) yet they experienced a storm. But in the middle of it Jesus taught them how to surrender. When the disciples saw Him walking on water, they were frightened but Jesus reminded them “take courage, I am here.” We can find rest knowing that when we obey God’s will, He is with us even in the midst of the storm.

To rest is to trust.