Finding Rest In God's Faithfulness

I have been writing for some time now on finding rest in God, and studying Sabbath Rest has been refreshing at times, but also frustrating. The thesis of Sabbath is resting in God. My imagination takes me to swinging in a hammock in a field on a warm spring day with a cool breeze—resting in His presence. This does paint a peaceful picture; I could day-dream about it for a while. However, my circumstances cause me to contemplate a hard question—what if resting in God is not easy breezy? What if resting in God is hard?

This past weekend I went to my favorite place to receive the rest and refreshing of God’s presence. I went as Jacob to my Bethel. Jacob returned there when he needed to hear from God. It was at my personal Bethel that I prayed, dreamed, and heard God speak promises into my life. I return to Bethel many moons later seeking much-needed answers for situations facing me, and to pray over the promises God has graciously seeded into my heart. I sat, prayed, and listened, and though I felt His presence, I heard no answers. No epiphanies. No opened heavens pouring wisdom down on me. I sat in stillness. I explained to God that I needed answers, and still nothing.

 

How long, O Lord, will I call for help, And You will not hear? {Habakkuk 1:2a}.

I brought on this pilgrimage to Bethel, a book by Mark Buchanan, The Holy Wild, (which if you do not own, consider yourself deficient) and his prose pricked my heart:

Habakkuk throws that challenge skyward, then stands on the watchtower and waits. He doesn’t have to wait long. But some people do. Some people’s lives get stalled here. They hurl their questions skyward and watch to see what God will answer. They wait. They spend long nights and gray mornings waiting, scanning the unbroken sky for a sign. Any sign. Dramatic, subtle, gigantic, miniscule—anything at all that signals divine response.[1]

Heaven is brass. What did I miss? Why can’t I hear you?

Where is God when He won’t answer me, or when His answers defy all my most cherished convictions about Him? God’s second answer to Habakkuk, though it comes swiftly enough, is almost as frustrating and cryptic as His first. Basically, God says, “Wait a little longer. Trust Me”…In some ways, this again seems like no answer at all. [2]

My heart sank when I read this. God breathed into my spirit, My grace is sufficient for you. The rest of the verse encourages Paul (and me), for power is perfected in weakness. Honestly, that is the last thing I want to hear. Do you know how long I have heard that? It brings me no comfort. My prayer journal reveals my heart—the day after I came home:


“You say your grace is sufficient for me, but Lord I don’t feel grace, I don’t feel wind beneath my wings, I don’t feel strength to go on, I feel drained, unmotivated, and lost. I feel foggy and unsure. I don’t feel your breath on me, I feel like I don’t care anymore.”

Wait, God says. Be patient. It will all work out in the end. That answer is infuriating in its vagueness and insipidness.[3]

I pleaded with God to take the promise away. Unspeak it. Siphon it from my spirit. It’s too hard. It hurts too much. God lovingly answered back,

If I take it off you, do you think it will take the pressure off and make your situation easier? The only reason you have been able to stand thus far, is that the promise remains on your life. That is the grace that sustains you. If you did not have the hope of that promise, of that deliverance, you would not make it. The Israelites were in slavery for 400 years, and if they did not have the promise of a deliverer, they would have all died in Egypt; breaking under the yoke of slavery—no light in their darkness. The promise is the grace that is sufficient for you and sustains you.


That is so powerful for all of us. The just live by faith.And as I cried out to God, I expressed my frustration in what I can’t see. I needed to see myself move. But God reminded me that the just live by faith. I may not see it, but I have to trust God that it is happening.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen {Heb. 11:1}.

And faith is finally this: resting so utterly in the character of God—in the ultimate goodness of God—that you trust him even when He seems untrustworthy.[4]

I never feel that God is untrustworthy, but sometimes His silence is deafening. In those times, the precious Holy Spirit brings the Divinely Inspired Word to my remembrance…

He that promised is faithful…

God’s faithfulness is one divine characteristic that we rest in so completely that our rest has become apathy.[5]

Sometimes having to rest in God is dark and lonely. Sometimes we feel stuck in our situations with no way out. But in the silence, like in the dark cave I spent the weekend in, I hear the still, small voice. I met the God of Elijah—who also found himself in a cave of loneliness, asking God to kill him.

“But I have also seen this: Here, especially here—in this silence, this darkness, this loneliness, this sorrow—many people meet the God of the Broken hearted. This is the God who sometimes just sits with us, silent, shadowy. This, too, is part of the Holy Wild where we meet the God whom Elijah knew, not in the exhilaration of the mountaintop, but in the loneliness of the cave, in the smallness of a whisper after windstorm and firestorm. The God whose faithfulness is displayed, sometimes in the storm and fire, but more often in bread enough for today, arriving in the most surprising ways.”[6]


God is so faithful to me. I asked God to kill the dream He placed inside of me. Just as with Elijah, He refused to let me die in the cave. He told me to get up and move.

He answered back to me, that He could not take the promise off my life because His gifts and calling are irrevocable (See Romans 11:29)

So here I find myself resting in the faithfulness of God. It is not a rest I anticipated. I want the hammock-in-the-pasture-with-wildflowers-rest. I can rely on Him for that too, but that is not the rest I need now. He knows what I need better than I do. When Paul wrote about his experience and asked God to remove something from His life, He received the infamous “My grace is sufficient for you.” Paul wrote it in the midst of great suffering.

“The apostle Paul celebrated loud and long and eloquently the unfailing faithfulness of God. Yet what was his experience? ‘We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death…But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope.”[7] 

On Him we have set our hope. On Him we have set our hope…He will deliver me, and though I am in a dark cave right now, looking for God in the fire and the windstorm, I find Him in the still small voice. God is faithful. He always is—He is immutable—He changes not.

If Paul can endure persecution—betrayal, beatings, stoning, lashes, disease and threat of death—my troubles are nothing; if Christ can humble Himself by being obedient to the point of death, certainly I can endure to see the promises of God fulfilled in my life. In that I can rest.

Don't forget to check out my book, A Life That Sings: Finding Your Song In The Midst of Brokenness

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[1]Mark Buchanan, The Holy Wild: Trusting In The Character Of God,(Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2003), 39.

[2]Ibid., 40.

[3]Ibid., 41.

[4]Ibid., 43.

[5]Ibid., 57.

[6]Ibid., 63.

[7]Ibid., 64.

Rest In God

{Originally posted 11.20.11}

This verse choked me up this morning; it was the proverbial plank between the eyes. How many times does God need to remind me that He will provide for my every need? I know I am not the only one; many of us fall into despair or discouragement in the midst of our circumstances. God desires for us to move beyond that place of falling back into unbelief.

They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God; they said, “Can God really spread a table in the wilderness? True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, streams flowed abundantly, but can he also give us bread? Can he supply meat for his people?” When the LORD heard them, he was furious; his fire broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Israel, for they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance {Ps. 78:18-22 TNIV}.

The dangers of grumbling and despair are paralyzing, and the darkness separates us from God.

Anne Shirley: Can't you even imagine you're in the depths of despair?
Marilla Cuthbert: No I cannot. To despair is to turn your back on God.

(Anne of Green Gables, 1985)

They spoke against God; they said, “Can God really spread a table in the wilderness?
True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, streams flowed abundantly,
but can he also give us bread? Can he supply meat for his people?” {v. 19-20}.

The Israelites were saying, yeah, God performed miracles for us before; He made water gush from a rock, but can He provide meat? This was enough to make God furious. Not only do they question whether God can perform a miracle after witnessing numerous miracles previously, but they also complain that what He has given them is not good enough.

I must confess that I have been there; I was there today. I am faced with what would seem insurmountable circumstances. I have some great ideas on how God can help me—what I think I need. How can I dare question Him, when He has done so much for me. He has yet to fail me, why would He start now? Is anything too hard for the Lord? (Jeremiah 32:27). If God delivered me from previous troubles, why would He leave me now? How can I even entertain for a moment that God can’t or won’t help me? He knows just what I need, which is always better than what I have in mind.

The Israelites unbelief was not unbelief in God’s existence, rather in His ability to provide for and deliver them; though they witnessed His deliverance in parting an ocean to cross on dry land, only for it to crash down on top of their enemies—drowning them in the sea.

Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent {Ex. 14:13-14 NASB}.

The Israelites developed a nasty habit of falling into unbelief. They witnessed the miracles and power of God. God had not displayed Himself in this way before, they were the first to witness His Mighty Hand, yet they could not trust Him. How could God destroy Pharaoh and the Egyptians through such wonders, yet not able to feed them in the desert? Water out of a rock—yes; but how can He provide food? Seems ridiculous, yet how many of us react the same? He delivers us from one trial, but when the next trial appears, we act as though it will overtake us, and that deliverance is impossible.

Sometimes when we get overwhelmed we forget how big God is. A.W. Tozer

While it is said, “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked me.” For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? {Hebrews 3:15-18 NASB}

Entering into God’s rest means that we believe what He speaks to us, and we allow Him to fight the battles for us. He led the Israelites out of Egypt, not to wander in the desert, but to take them into the Promised Land. He delivered them from Pharaoh, He provided the bread of angels to feed them, yet when circumstances seemed a little too tough, they did not believe He would take care of them. He desired to be their source; everything they needed—He would provide. Instead of resting in the Almighty powerful God, they complained. The Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years for their murmuring and though He provided for them in the wilderness, despite their complaining, they lived out the remainder of their days and died in the desert. They would never see a glimpse of the Promise Land.

This event in the wilderness is a very important one. The Holy Spirit inspired the scribes of the Scriptures to include this account in several places: Psalm 78:18, Psalm 95:8, Hebrews 3:8 and 3:15, and Hebrews 4:9; this however is not an exhaustive list. It is clearly a message the Lord wants to ensure we hear—and take to heart. This message leaps across the pages of the Old Testament to speak again firmly in the New, because He desires to provide for us and to tabernacle with us:

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth {Jn. 1:14 NASB}.

It is a call to the Hebrews to come out of that life of unbelief and sloth, that leads to a departing from the living God and to enter into the Promised Land, the rest of God, a life of fellowship and favor. It is a call to all lukewarm, half-hearted Christians, no longer to remain in the outer court of the tabernacle, content with the hope that their sins are pardoned. Nor even to be satisfied with having entered the Holy Place, and there doing the service of the Tabernacle, while the veil still hinders the fellowship with the living God and His love (Andrew Murray, Holiest of All).

It is a call to the Hebrews, and it is a call to us.

Remember Jesus’ words of comfort:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest {Matthew 11:28 TNIV}.

Jesus came to give us rest; when you are weary and overwhelmed, He promises rest when we come to Him.

He again fixes a certain day, ‘Today’ saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, ‘Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God {Heb. 4:9 NASB}.

God promises repeatedly to be a strong tower, a refuge in the storm; we don’t have to keep going in circles wandering in the wilderness with the Promised Land in sight but beyond our reach. The Lord created the Sabbath for man; not man for the Sabbath (see Mark 2:27), so that we can rest, not just on Sunday—a day on the calendar; but also spiritually; a day to be still and hear God’s voice and to be filled with the peace of the precious Holy Spirit—our Comforter.

Sabbath is both a day and an attitude to nurture such stillness. It is both time on a calendar and a disposition of the heart. It is a day we enter, but just as much a way we see. Sabbath imparts the rest of God—actual physical, mental, spiritual rest, but also the rest of God–the things of God’s nature and presence we miss in our busyness {Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God}.

From the beginning, God ordained the Sabbath Rest. He created it for mankind, physically and spiritually. He ordained a Sabbath rest for the land every seventh year so the land could rest and regain its nutrients; He is the All-Wise God, and knows His creation in ways we never will. It is for our good to take a physical rest and a spiritual rest; resting in God— knowing He will take care of everything, and fulfill His promises.

Circumstances may look overwhelming, storms may come and toss your boat to and fro. You will scream out “Master don’t you care that we are perishing?!” He does care, and when we rest in Him we will not perish. We will find deliverance and rest for our souls.

Soul Searching and Finding Rest

The end of the first half of 2015 is fast approaching—so far it has been a whirl-wind; it is time for some soul-searching. In this mundane chronos, am I practicing what the Lord spoke into this weary saint as 2014 faded away? A look into the Brazen Laver is sobering.

The annual change of the calendar takes me by surprise each year; I greet each one with frustration. When the sparkling cider is gone, and the noise makers are trodden under foot, nothing seems new—nothing feels new. 2015 began with my resistance to its arrival. I refused to write a list of resolutions, or fill out another prayer card; for it would only get lost in the pages of the One True Word. I desired this New Year to be different—I wanted a word. A word that would guide me through the year. A word I could cling to in tough times. After seeking God and praying for His direction, I christened 2015 with the word I felt Him whisper into my weary soul—Rest. sabbatismos a lifestyle of Sabbath rest and Sabbath observance. The Greek sabbatismos is an idea far beyond church on Sunday. It is an attitude, a heart condition. This is not a legalistic ritual, but it is prayerfully seeking a new perspective on the chronos. The Omnipotent One, continues to urge me to rest. A lesson I have not yet fully retained.

The rest that was to govern my year alludes me. While my faith and trust in God does not waver; I still struggle with resting. “A Sabbath heart is restful even in the midst of unrest and upheaval,” Mark Buchanan writes; storms definitely describe the year and it is anything but restful. I have had enough upheaval to last a life time. It has brought sickness, heartache, sadness, and betrayals that test the most determined soul. It is so easy to get caught up in the whirl-wind of chronos and it drains the passion from us. Kairos—God’s divine intervention, is as fleeting as spring after a hard winter.

Chronos betrays us, always. It devours the beauty it creates. But sometimes chronos betrays itself: it stirs in us a longing for something else—something that the beauty of things in time evokes but cannot satisfy… we end up as the man in Ecclesiastes did: driven, driven, driven, racing hard against chronos, desperate to seize beauty but always gasping smoke, ashes, and thorns. Seeking purpose and finding none, only emptiness (Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God, p. 37).

I am a passionate reader—a dozen books a month is my usual habit. Yet, piles of books await for me to get lost in their pages. Piles that once stirred me to read, now seem daunting, and overwhelming. Studying alludes me as well, as I have taken the summer to rest from seminary. This is new territory for me. Days and weeks of wrestling and torture just to pen this journal entry proves exhausting. Reading and writing is so much a part of who I am, that I feel lost. I feel as though I am wandering around—searching for my place in the world. If I don’t read and write, what do I do? I rest.

Sabbath is both a day and an attitude to nurture such stillness. It is both time on a calendar and a disposition of the heart. It is a day we enter, but just as much a way we see. Sabbath imparts the rest of God—actual physical, mental, spiritual rest, but also the rest of God–the things of God’s nature and presence we miss in our busyness… A Sabbath heart is restful even in the midst of unrest and upheaval (pp.3-4).

One thing I have learned in spending time in His presence, is that worship is the key to rest. When I cease worrying about the cares of this world (Matt. 6:25-34), and I lay at His feet; peace overwhelms me.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus {Phil. 4:7 NASB}.

There are many things that vie for my attention; so many cares and distractions. But I must choose, as Mary so wisely did, to sit at His feet and worship. The Martha in me is easily lured into the drama of the day. If I never read another book, if I never pen another page, I will have peace when I rest in Him. Sabbatismos.

The New Year is frustrating, because the strike at midnight changes the chronos, and not the kairos. I want something new…I want kairos. I want to witness the divine intervention of God in my moment and see the change that I have longed for. I must be reminded in the mundane to seek out and choose joy. I must remember the greatest kairos in all eternity—He has already made all things new.

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” {Rev. 21:5 ESV}.

He is trustworthy and true. He made all things new long before midnight of 2015. He made me new, and instead of seeking for my circumstances to change, I continue to change. When I rest in Christ, then He abides in me and Christ in me is the hope of glory. And the mundane doesn’t seem so dull after all. I witness the Divine every day through His mercy, grace, and love.