Rest in your relationship wit HIM

I want to share with you a picture that God gave me through some scriptures I was reading. I've been thinking about letting God be our resting place. What does it mean to rest in God-and what can keep us from that?

As I was thinking about this I read Hebrews 4, the entire chapter is talking about entering into God's place of rest. It says repeatedly how this place of rest is for all people and it references the time in the wilderness where the Israelites had hardened their heart, had disobeyed so God vowed that they wouldn't enter his rest. As I looked into this more I came across verses 10-11 that say

"For anyone who enters God's rest will find rest from their labors, just as God rested after creating the world. Let us do our best to enter that place of rest. For anyone who disobeys God, as the people of Israel did, will fall."

I began to explore what it meant in saying we would rest 'just as God rested after creating the world." As I turned to Genesis I read how he rested on the seventh day. But what happened after that? We see the beginning of the relationship with man. The next words of the Lord that are recorded are when he admonishes Adam to not ear of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Is it to far to think that in God's time of resting he established his relationship with man? In verse 2:18 we see that God says "it is not food for man to be alone" he recognized in his rest, perhaps, that man needs companionship, and God as well wanted companionship.

I looked back to Hebrews 4, and saw that as God rested after creating the world, this is where he entered into relationship. Our rest in God is a relationship. We can enter "that place of rest" by entering into the most intimate and important relationship of our lives-one with our Almighty God Creator and Unconditional Lover.

This in turn seemed to make sense with what happened at the fall. When Adam and Eve sinned this broke their relationship with God. Just as Hebrews reminds of Israel's disobedience breaking this intimate relationship. They were unable to enter God's rest because of their disobedience breaking their close relationship. When that barrier of disobedience your heart can become hardened, which makes a deep relationship with Father God nearly impossible, the rest you seek seems far, because the barrier is within you.

Track with me, in Hebrews 4 it refers to the scripture from Psalm 95:11 where God says "they will never enter my rest." The Hebrew word for rest here is translated as "resting place, still, with ease" the same rest that is used in Isaiah 28:12 as it says "God's people could have rest in their own land if they would only obey hi, but the will not listen." Doesnt that tie in directly with the illumination God brought to my attention? A seeming direct link between obedience to God and a rest, an ease in our relationship with Him.

We need to do our best to enter this place of rest, we need to WORK at this rest. It is work to have healthy relationship. It is work at times-to obey God's voice. We mustn't harden our hearts!! In closing I want you to notice that it is no random thing to have the familiar verse 12 that states "For the word of God is full of living power.." It reveals our innermost thoughts, we can open and vulnerable and surrender all to God in our rested relationship. Just two verses later we read "Let us cling to him and never stop trusting him.." Cling to him, cling to that place of relationship and enter that place of rest.

Lord God please just come and show us what it means to rest in you. We know that disobedience is a interference in our relationship with you. The stresses of this world can be lost in our relationship with you-when we are in your arms, when we are rested in you, we can leave stress behind, show us what that is God. We don't want to harden our hearts!