No rest for who?

You probably could immediately name at least a dozen people who seem to be perpetually weary.

They’re busy people, life keeps them exhausted!

Wait a minute …

… is it life that keeps them exhausted?

Or could it be it’s really disobedience to God, disobedience they take little note of?

That busy person may awake before sunrise to read a chapter of his or her Bible, squeeze in some prayer, then start the harriedness of their day.

They leave God in the dark, quiet corner next to their Bible and, if they don’t connect with Him again before bedtime, they’ll visit again the next morning.

In between meetings is a lot of living they often leave God out of, or keep Him on the fringe of. Instead of what God really wants, which is to be in the middle of it all as we walk with Him throughout every aspect of living out our day.

And so we find ourselves exhausted making life happen by our own accord.

The writer of Hebrews tells us it would happen this way if we don’t walk in obedience with God. Look closely at the following verses from Hebrews 4. Read the following text slowly, letting the words sink in deeply:

“God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news — that God has prepared this rest — has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, ‘In my anger I took an oath: They will never enter my place of rest,’ even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: ‘On the seventh day God rested from all his work.’ But in the other passage God said, ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’ So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: ‘Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.’ Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall,” Hebrews 4:1-11.

Striving through life detached, or simply distant, from God is a weary work that keeps us constantly striving spiritually without a fulfilling result. Only by exercising our faith into real obedience to God can we find rest for our weary souls.

Jesus made the issue personal:

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light,’” Matthew 11:28-30.

If you want to find rest in 2022, find Christ.

Scotty