There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his (Heb. 4:9, 10).
It was God's plan to give spiritual rest to His people, but they entered not into it because of unbelief. Joshua could not give it to them; the land of Canaan could not yield it. David sang of this rest and declared it would be another day that would be offered to the people of the world. So this rest of blessing remains for believers. Even our works for God, which might be called "very good," give us no confidence. We are not saved by works, but by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, for it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). Everything has been done. Christ has finished His work. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (John 6:29). Let us cease from our works as God did from His.
All God's providential matters, all His work for people's souls, we must leave in His hands. We must cast these burdens upon the Lord, and He will sustain us. By faith we are to labor to enter into this rest. In the endless confusion and tension of the world, we may find our rest in Christ.
Dr. James Rendel Harris was once staying with friends in the state of Delaware. In the room where he slept, the bed coverlet was made of brown linen spun in the old days by a godly grandmother. On it she had embroidered Mrs. Browning's lines:
God's greatness flowed around our incompleteness__
Round our restlessness, His rest.
When asked in the morning how he had slept, Dr. Harris replied, "How could I have slept other than well with such a text as that over me?"
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Oh that I had wings, like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be as rest" (Ps. 55:6).
It was God's plan to give spiritual rest to His people, but they entered not into it because of unbelief. Joshua could not give it to them; the land of Canaan could not yield it. David sang of this rest and declared it would be another day that would be offered to the people of the world. So this rest of blessing remains for believers. Even our works for God, which might be called "very good," give us no confidence. We are not saved by works, but by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, for it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). Everything has been done. Christ has finished His work. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (John 6:29). Let us cease from our works as God did from His.
All God's providential matters, all His work for people's souls, we must leave in His hands. We must cast these burdens upon the Lord, and He will sustain us. By faith we are to labor to enter into this rest. In the endless confusion and tension of the world, we may find our rest in Christ.
Dr. James Rendel Harris was once staying with friends in the state of Delaware. In the room where he slept, the bed coverlet was made of brown linen spun in the old days by a godly grandmother. On it she had embroidered Mrs. Browning's lines:
God's greatness flowed around our incompleteness__
Round our restlessness, His rest.
When asked in the morning how he had slept, Dr. Harris replied, "How could I have slept other than well with such a text as that over me?"
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Oh that I had wings, like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be as rest" (Ps. 55:6).
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