REST

There remains a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest  (Hebrews 4:1-11).

Helmut Thielicke (1908-1986) wrote:

I often think about what will happen to me when I can no longer work, perhaps when old age comes and hand and eye have grown weary, or perhaps in some other long period of enforced rest. None of us knows, after all, what lies ahead of us, what unexpected pages may be opened in the book of our life by a higher hand.

When that time comes will I awaken out of my work and my busy activity as from an anesthetic and not know where I am? Will I be at loss to know what to do with myself and then begin to moan that my life no longer has any meaning or content? How empty life is for many old people when they retire!

Or will I be aware then of the high and holy hand that sweeps aside with a sublime gesture all that I have worked upon and created; will I hear a voice saying, ‘These things you have prepared, whose will they be?’

Then the money I may have earned will be consumed by moth and rust, and the success I may have achieved will sink into unsubstantial shadow. Then some altogether different questions will begin to stir: Are there any treasures in your life that have permanent value, that do not trickle through your fingers like sand, but remain in eternity? Have you believed and hoped and loved? Have you learned, even in the midst of utter loneliness, to listen to God and answer him, and thus to live in anticipation of the joy. Soren Kierkegaard requested that the following poem be inscribed on his gravestone:

In a little while,

I shall have won,

The entire battle

Will at once be done.

Then I may rest

In halls of roses

And unceasingly

And unceasingly

Speak with my Jesus.

What good is the most thrilling romance of a life, yea what good will it do if my life has been successful in secondary things and men heap carloads of wreaths upon my coffin, what good will all this be, if a higher hand writes on the margin of my life: ‘You missed the theme; you did not get the point. I sent you signal after signal in judgments and promises. But you did not see and did not hear. You saw only your barns which you wanted to fill, but not the Father’s house where one day you would stand. You acted as if you would live forever – as Adam wanted to do – as if there were no eternity on whose shore your journey would one day end.’ (Helmut Thielicke, How The World Began, pp.113-114)

The promise of God to Moses after all his work on God’s behalf was, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14).  Jesus calls to us: “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matt 11:28-29)

This promise is for the present and not just for the future life. A gravestone may tell us that the deceased is R.I.P.: resting in peace. But Jesus is telling us that when we come to him now and become his disciple, and follow him, we will find rest for our souls. This is the goal of creation – to enter into God’s rest in Christ. “You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” (St. Augustine, Confessions)

How restless are you? Can you lay down your burdens and enter into the rest that Jesus supplies? What is preventing you from doing so? Can you receive what Jesus wants to give you – rest for your soul?

Lord, support me all the day long of this troublous life, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed and the fever of life is over and my work is done. Then in your mercy grant me a safe lodging and a holy rest and peace at the last, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (John Henry Newman)

Spirit of God, set at rest the crowded, hurrying, conscious thoughts within our minds and hearts. Let the peace and quiet of your presence take possession of us. Help us to relax, to rest, to become open and receptive to you. You know our inmost spirits, the hidden, unconscious life within us, the forgotten memories of hurts and fears, the frustrated desires, the unresolved tensions and dilemmas. Cleanse and sweeten the springs of our being, that freedom, life and love may flow into our conscious and hidden life. Lord, we lie open before you, waiting for your healing, your peace, and your word. Amen. (George Appleton)