I cannot relax or be still; I have no rest, for trouble comes. Job 3:26
I am churning within and cannot rest; days of suffering confront me. Job 30:27
Have you ever been at a place where you were forced to rest? Where your mind can't stop, but your body can't go? When there is so much to accomplish, but physically you have hit "the wall"? Why is it so uncomfortable for us to be in that place?
Last Friday, I had a laser procedure done on both feet. Everything went well and I was looking forward to a quick recovery. At this point, I venture to say there is no such thing.
re-cov-er-y
1. a return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength.
2. the action or process of regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost.
In this life, it seems as if we are all striving for something. Whether it is the struggle for position or possession, we feel like we control our own destiny. We never stop lest we might fall behind... and that makes the reality of the TRUTH so hard for us to understand. Yes, we were created to work, but also to rest.
For we are His creation- created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
By the seventh day, God completed His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. Genesis 2:2
So if we have been created in His image, should we not emulate work ethic? Even Our Creator knew rest would be necessary after work had been done, yet in our need for control, we fail to stop. What we don't see, many times, is that The Father is always drawing us into a deeper relationship with Him. He desires to be in fellowship with us, but we have to stop. This is not new. The book of Job, one of the oldest books in the Bible, shows humanity's weakness in complete rest even in the Lord's most faithful of servants. Here we have Satan gaining God's permission to torment Job in a great test of his faithfulness to God. God knew Job would be faithful, but in the end, Job had to be corrected. While his faithfulness was sound, his trust was lacking as he continued to question God about his circumstances.
"Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
So here, we see the differentiation of physical rest from work, and spiritual rest from our mental stresses. While God was training Job to trust Him deeper, even through terrible times, He was also showing him that He was trustworthy through anything. God wasn't asking Job to defend Him, but rather just to let Him be the faithful God that He had always been. This is His rest. The same rest Jesus calls us to when we don't understand or don't have all of the answers. We were not created to carry worries and burdens, but rather to trust.
I would encourage you to read Hebrews 4. Once again, we see the example of God resting on the seventh day....after His work was complete. We also see that knowing the "good news" (yes, this is referring to the Gospel), and being disobedient to Its call, invites torment into our lives. BUT, the door is always open...because He loves you.
Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Hebrews 4:7b
So, my new definition of RECOVERY... is to fall back into alignment with Him through obedience, and enter into His rest. Re-covering me in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You see...the work for these characteristics has been accomplished...and they are available to you through submission to Him.
I invite you to share, like, follow, and comment. Thank you for reading.
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