THE ROAD TO REST

Rest is such a necessity yet is a rare find to many. Everybody wants it but not all know how and where to get it. There is a road that leads to rest that is available to all and it is a path that can be found in the Scripture.

Each of us has our own cares and anxieties in life. There are times when we find ourselves so stressed out that we just want to give up. But instead of worrying, striving, and succumbing to defeat, the Apostle Peter encourages us in 1 Peter 5:6-7 to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt us in due time, casting all our care upon Him, for He cares for us.

The Greek word used for “casting” in this verse is “EPIRIPTÓ” which means to throw upon or to place upon. It is used in the same context of the triumphal entry of Jesus when the disciples threw their clothes upon the colt (Luke 19:35).  It implies totally letting go and letting the other person receive and carry the burden.

The word “cares,” on the other hand, is from the Greek word “MERIMNA” which means to be anxious beforehand about daily life. Thus, this verse is telling us to completely surrender our daily concerns unto Him.

Our cares could be a lot of things. It could be worrying about our natural and earthly concerns – what to eat, what to do, how to pay this and that, etc. It could be having inner anxieties, conflicts of the soul, indecisiveness, and distractions that pull us towards different directions.

It could also be loving earthly things that snuff out the light and life in us and cause unfruitfulness (Matthew 13:22). When we are consumed with so many cares of this world, we can get confused and feel lost.

First Peter 5:7 says that He cares for us.

The Greek word used for “cares” in this text “for He cares for us” is “MELEI” which means to be of interest and to care about. Often we don’t realize how much we resist the idea that God cares for us, especially when faced with trials.

David says in Psalm 8:4 says “What is man that you are mindful of Him? And the son of man that you visit him?” God loves us and He has regard for us. He knows exactly what we are going through.

Jesus Christ is the only one who can give us true rest.

He says in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” This passage reveals the steps along the road to rest. Let us take a look at them now one by one:

1. Go to the Lord in times of trouble and cast our cares upon Him.

The invitation of Jesus to come unto Him is open everyone. This is the same as when He said to the disciples “Come, follow Me and I will make you fishers of men. And at once they left their nets and followed Him” (Matthew 4:19).

In our moment of weakness and frailty, the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to come to Him right away. 

We do not want to delay and miss the opportunity of coming to the Lord and casting all our cares upon Him. If God says it, we must put off our reservations and we must have the heart to say, “Yes, Lord. I will come now.”

In 2 Chronicles 14:9-15, King Asa of Judah cried out to the Lord for victory when large numbers of Ethiopians came out against them. Because he relied on the Lord, God gave him the victory. Yet in chapter 16, a much smaller army of the Israelites under Baasha fought against him. But instead of turning to God, he turned to Ben-Hadad king of Syria for help.

He sought help from other sources and that is why he experienced defeat. The Lord is the only source of our victory and He will sustain us as we cast our burdens upon Him (Psalm 55:22). He promises that He will give us rest as we lay down everything to Him.

2. Take His yoke

The Lord tells us to take His yoke because His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

When a calf is being trained to carry burdens, it is partnered with a mature ox under one yoke in order to teach the calf how to stay on course as it bears burdens. As they walk together though, the calf hardly carries any weight because the ox bears it for both of them.

In Jesus’ invitation for us to take His yoke, we are like that calf and He the ox. The purpose of taking His yoke is to restrain us from veering away and to cause us to walk in the right direction while He carries the burden for us. Jesus wants us to walk with Him and as we learn to take His yoke and walk with Him, we begin to learn who He is and what He is like.

3. Learn His meekness and humility

We learn more about God if we are in His yoke. As we walk with Him, we learn about His meekness and humility.

a. Meekness

Meekness is the holy acceptance of our circumstances. Whatever our trials and circumstances are, we need to accept and realize that God allows things to happen in our lives for our own good.

Romans 8:28 says,
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

We must be walking with Him to fulfill His purposes for our lives. If we are not in the pathway of God, things will not work for our good even if we get what we want. We need to be meek about any trials that come our way.

b. Humility

Jesus said He is lowly in heart. God has not put in us the ability to direct our own ways. He has given us the capacity to move, to walk, and to do things but He has not given us the capacity to direct our own steps and decide for ourselves (Jeremiah 10:23). To accept this is humility.

Philippians 2:5-8 tells us about the humility of Christ. Even if He is God, He did not consider Himself to be God. He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Colossians 3:12 also tells us that humility is something that we can put on. We receive the grace to be humble as we continue to walk with it by faith.

4. Find rest for our souls

Jesus promises us in Matthew 11:29 that we will find rest for our souls when we come unto Him and take His yoke upon us. Our soul is the seat of our emotions which is why it must be brought into rest. Our soul is very fragile, it can easily be tormented and overwhelmed because of the situations around us.

But God wants us to triumph and bring rest and peace to our souls. God led David into green pastures and beside still waters and through this, God restored his soul.

5. Take authority over our soul

Our soul can be up and down but we must take control and authority over our soul. When David was faced with insurmountable trials, he spoke to his soul. He declared in Psalm 42:5 “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, for the help of His countenance.”

When something comes to trouble us, we are to stand still and rest in the Lord. If we find it difficult to do so, let us open our hearts to Him, and wait upon Him with an expectant heart.

He will speak and calm our fears. We must not allow our emotions to govern our being because one who is controlled by emotions often ends up miserable

The key to entering rest from our emotions lies in teaching our soul to trust in God and give Him praise

In Psalm 103:2, David commanded his own soul to bless the Lord. Whenever we are faced with trials, we can always say to our soul: “Return to your rest, O my soul” (Psalm 116:7). We can be assured that God cares for us and that He wants our soul to be at rest.

Sources:
Bailey, Brian J. Entering the Rest of God. Zion Christian Publishers Singapore, 2006.
Blue Letter Bible. Bible Search and Study Tools, 2017, blueletterbible.com. Accessed Apr. 2017.