Finding Our Purpose: Resting in Him pt. 4

True rest does not equal sleep. Let me repeat that, true rest does not equal sleep. Sleep does not equal true rest. Both CAN be the same, but are completely independent of each other. The definition of sleep is “to take the rest afforded by a suspension of voluntary bodily functions and the natural suspension, complete or partial, of consciousness; cease being awake.” The difference between sleep and true rest is that sleep comes when the body needs to suspend “voluntary bodily functions…” whereas rest comes when you need a break, when it’s time to get your wits about you. Sleep is when the body can no longer maintain consciousness. I can tell you this, however, that there have been many times where I have needed the rest and sleep and yet when I woke up in the morning, I was still tired. This comes from a lack of rest while sleeping. Typically, at least for me, it comes from my mind and/or my spirit not being truly at rest. In fact I have found that many times those who sleep the most wake up and still need more rest. It is due to the busy nature of the individual and the lack of rest the person gets. I can put myself into this category many, many times. Sleeping is when the body can no longer "go." It is a physical reaction to being tired. Resting in the Lord is a spiritual reaction to a holy God. While sleeping takes faith in that you need to trust Him to keep you safe while you sleep, resting requires a stronger and more active faith in that you have to trust Him while you wait on Him.

You see, true rest and sleep are not the same. We all need sleep for our physical bodies to carry on, but we need rest for so much more. One of the largest acts of faith we can do is to rest. When we rest we trust that in that time of rest God will provide. It means while we aren't going going going, we trust that God is doing doing doing. Rest requires patience. While you sit still, things happen around you. It's then in that time that God will allow you to depend on Him for clarity and vision. I am not a NASCAR fan, but I do know that when a driver’s car is getting worn down, whether it’s fluids or tires, etc…, the driver has to make a pit stop. Does performing a pit stop keep the driver from winning the race? No, it doesn’t. In fact, it is typically the driver who makes the prudent pit stops along the race who wins. Many times we think that we cannot afford the rest because the world will pass us by, and that simply isn’t true. When running the race of life, we have to make the necessary stops for rest or we will burn out and cease to finish the race. Rest allows you to continue. True rest in the Lord allows you to continue forward in discovering and achieving His purpose for your life. It begins with rest and rest will be required along the journey as well.

Hebrews 4:1-13
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,
"So I declared on oath in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest.'" And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest."
It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts." For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

We can see in the above text that rest is important. There is no better day to rest than “Today” so don’t let it slip by. Rest, as described above, is an act of trust in the Lord, is an act of patience, an act of obedience, and an act of reliance upon God. As was referenced in an earlier blog, Jesus slept on the boat as he and the disciples crossed the lake. Was he tired, yes, but his ability to sleep wasn't just because he was tired, it was due to his reliance on God to provide. Jesus wasn’t just sleeping because he was tired; he was sleeping because he knew that God was in charge and that the boat would make it to the other side. He relied on the Lord. The storm that had surrounded them was not a concern to Jesus. He simply relied on the Lord. See Mark 4:35-41. You see resting in the Lord requires something...reliance upon Him to sustain us. We have to trust that the Lord is good and is who He claims to be. If you have doubts in His goodness, or doubts that He is who He says He is, then you just won’t be able to do this, but if you truly realize that He has plans for you and that He wants you to prosper then resting in Him may come easier.

Jeremiah 29:11-13
“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

God has plans for you and He wants you to achieve all He has purposed for you, but when you are constantly moving, constantly going you can’t see His plans. Rest is required to see his plans for us. We can push ourselves so hard that the only reaction our body can muster up is sleep, but that isn’t what we need to do. We need to sit back and rest at times. If that means sleep, then by all means, sleep, but there are times when we have to sit back and sit still. It is in those times of rest that God can truly do a work in us. To rest in the Lord we must rely on Him. This is a key cog in finding one's purpose. Stay tuned for the next blog entry: Finding Your Purpose: Relying on the Lord.