Rest is a present gift, given to those who come to Jesus, not a distant hope deferred until the appointment is kept or the heat abates. You ask for rest as though it were something to be found once the phone rings and the time is settled, once the fever of the day is cooled. But Christ’s word stands: “I will give you rest”, not “I will give it when your circumstances are ordered to your liking.” This rest is now, perfect and immediate, for it rests upon His finished work, not your unfinished business. The heart that trusts in His substitution, that sees justice satisfied in Him, has already entered into rest. The uncertainty of an hour cannot shake the soul that is anchored in the certainty of His love. Lie down in the heat, if you must, but let your spirit recline upon the bosom of the Eternal. Learn of Him who was meek and lowly, and you shall find rest unto your soul, a deep, growing, abiding rest, discovered even in the waiting.
You cry for justice against those you call predators, pleading Isaiah’s promise that no weapon forged against you shall prosper. That is a true word, but do not mistake its meaning. The weapon may be forged, and it may be swung, but it cannot prosper in its ultimate design against the people of God. Yet your rest is not in their overthrow. If you make their destruction the condition of your peace, you will be tossed like the sea. Return unto your rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. The Lord will plead your cause, and He will bring forth your righteousness as the noon, but He does it in His own way and time, and often by the quiet workings of providence rather than the thunderbolt of sudden vengeance. Commend your case to Him, and then rest. The law office may take it or not; God Himself is your Advocate, and He never miscarries a trust. Rest in the Lord Himself, not in anything about Him, not in the hoped-for outcome, but in His character, His covenant, His Christ. There is a rest of quiet contentment with one’s earthly lot, which ambition and fear alike destroy. Ambition spoils rest; the constant fever of wanting a different outcome puts rest out of the question. But the soul that says, “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight,” enters into rest even while the battle rages.
This rest is not laziness. The Apostle bids us labor to enter into that rest, for it is perfectly consistent with diligent service and watchfulness against sin. You may yet have to act, to speak, to endure. But underneath all action, the deep rest of faith abides. It is the rest of a man who knows that his sin is pardoned, that his person is accepted in the Beloved, and that all things work together for his good. This is first-class rest, which the world cannot give and cannot take away. If Christ gives it, it is no second-rate peace, but His own glorious rest, that which He Himself enjoys in the bosom of the Father. Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, and you will find your hollow-eyed anxieties giving way to a calm, unshaken repose. The appointment will come; the heat will break; the enemies will be dealt with as God sees best. But your soul may rest even now, for you have believed, and we who have believed do enter into rest. Trust, and you shall rest. Only believe, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall garrison your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. May the Holy Spirit bring you into such union and communion with God that you know the full meaning of these words: “Rest in the Lord.”
