Entering God's Rest

“Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ (Joshua 1:13)

Rest has always been part of God’s design. In Genesis 2:1–3, God rested on the seventh day. Not because God needed the rest, but because He was establishing a pattern. If the perfect Creator rested, how much more do we need to?

In nature, we actually see that every living thing has a state of rest…even the single celled organisms. There are times of activity and times of rest, and God has built that into our design as a good thing. But how often are we finding ourselves running around until we’re ragged and overwhelmed. Our body, mind, and spirit needs rest, and yet God knowing in our fallen state we would not give ourselves that time of rest… commanded it as part of the ten commandments, to keep the Sabbath holy. That day of rest that was made for mankind.

Jesus invites the weary and heavy-laden to come to Him for rest…not just physical rest, but rest for our souls (Matthew 11:28–30). In Joshua, God promised His people a place of rest. Yet the question remains: how often do we actually receive what He has already provided to us?

Jesus described His yoke as easy and His burden as light, even while He was living a full and demanding ministry life here on earth. Do we view our callings that way? Or are we often overwhelmed by all we feel we must do?

Where burdens feel heavy and yokes feel crushing, there is often a lack of rest in God. Rest is not merely ceasing from work, it is the quieting of the mind and soul through trusting and abiding in Christ. And those times of being still and knowing God, waiting on Him as He renews our strength. Hebrews 4 reminds us that entering God’s rest is an act of obedience and faith. Rest is not passive, it’s an active choice to enter it.

God has provided a resting place, and the invitation stands for us today. Will you choose to enter that rest and abide with Him there?