Resting In Jesus
Ninety some years ago the Sunday’s of my youth were quiet–no phones, no games, no television, a quiet hard to imagine. There was the absence of striving and more of listening. There was church, of course, a time set aside for listening to the Word of God often preached in terms of the sovereign rule of God. Oceans apart from the prayers we now pray, “my kingdom come, my will be done.”
In the 21st century we chafe at authority because we have been stewed in the attitude that we should be free to make our own decisions. But submission to human authority is met with abuses. God’s authority is meant for the good of all. As R. C. Sproul once said, “If there is one single molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God’s sovereignty, then we have no guarantee that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled.”
There is a quieting that comes with the authority of God. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 The word, “still” comes from the Hebrew word rapa that comes with a multitude of meanings. I prefer the meaning I was taught from an Old Testament professor. Rapa means that healing must begin from the inside and work itself outward, like any surgery heals. It’s in the order of “let go and let God.”
Not an easy thing to do, to lay down one’s arms, so to speak. I remember Sunday’s past back on the farm. The horses were let out to pasture, the plow, the binder and the grinder stood still. Perhaps it was idyllic, but so is the finished work of Christ’s sacrifice. It is never realized through competition but is refused when we fail to accept the promises of God.
We best heed the words of the writer of Hebrews Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. Hebrews 4:11
