We’ve looked at the principle of the rest that God provides. I just had a couple more passages I think we need to look at.

Hebrews 4:1-2

1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. (There’s one thing we SHOULD fear – not entering into the rest that God provides us.)

2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

God provides everything necessary for us to have His rest. It’s a question of taking what He has promised, and “uniting it with faith” or believing it. It’s easy to learn what God has promised, but it will not profit you unless you believe it!

Look at this story (which you have certainly heard before) in this same context. This is right after the Israelites left Egypt with Moses.

Ex 14:1-16

1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea.

3 "For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, "They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.' (The place they camped was between two sets of mountains on each side, with the Red Sea on the other. That’s what it means by “shut in.”)

4 "Thus I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD." And they did so.

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, "What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?"

6 So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him;

7 and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.

8 The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly.

9 Then the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. (So now the Israelites have mountains on two sides, the Red Sea on another, and the entire Egyptian Army on the other.)

10 As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD.

11 Then they said to Moses, "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt?

12 "Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, "Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."

Look at their reaction! They had surely seen all that God had done for them in Egypt, and the plagues He had sent. They knew that God had promised to take them to the land flowing with milk and honey; the land that He had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. BUT, their present circumstance was bigger to them than the promise that God had made. Therefore, they were completely stressed, or what we can call rest-free!

On the other hand, look at Moses.

13 But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.

14 "The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent."

There’s one interesting thing to realize about what Moses says here. God had not yet told Moses how they were going to get out of this jam! Go ahead; look back as far as you want to! Moses doesn’t know yet how God is going to solve their problem; he only knows that God IS going to solve their problem!

He takes the promises God had given, and unites them with faith, and he has this kind of confidence (rest) in God in the face of hopeless circumstances.

Then, as you know, God tells Moses how He’s going to solve the problem!

15 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.

16 "As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.

Don’t you want to have that kind of confidence in all the hopeless situations you may face? God has already promised you that He can handle any problem you may think you have. To have the rest that God provides, you simply have to believe Him!