Hebrews 4:11 “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
Have you ever noticed how much work it takes . . . to relax? Planning a vacation takes an enormous amount of work! Vacation includes lining up someone to feed your dog, water your flowers, and watch your house. It seems like an oxymoron, but relaxing doesn’t come without work. Likewise, resting in God does not come naturally; it takes work to rest in God.
Hebrews 4:11 puts together the words labour and rest in an intriguing way. “That rest” is God’s rest, and only He can provide it. However, the Bible says, “Let us labour. . . .” In other words, resting in God requires work! The Bible is full of examples of people who failed to rest in God. For example, God had promised Canaan to Israel, but did they all conquer Canaan? No. Did they rest in God for the promise He had made? No. Some of the Israelites died in the wilderness because they failed to rest in God!
Are you the type of person who can fall asleep instantly? Some people can literally fall asleep at the drop of a hat; others have a whole routine they must do. Stores are full of items like hot drinks, little pills, and calming sound machines to help put you under! If it takes work to rest your physical body, doesn’t it stand to reason that resting in God takes work too? How foolish to have promises from God but fail to rest in Him today!
Every promise of God is good because every promise of God is alive and powerful (verse 12). His promises for today are reliable; but just because He promised doesn’t mean you will experience them. Just because you can rest doesn’t mean you will rest. It comes down to an act of your will. You can either rely on the promises of God’s Word or you can run from them and rely on something or someone else. You can do a lot of laboring today, but will you rest in God’s promises? Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to work on resting!