Matthew 11:28-30
28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
The Christian life is not supposed to be a life of suffering and hardship. Certainly we will have adversity, but God wants us to have a relaxed, restful state of mind in any and all circumstances.
This rest is available to us only in God’s word. In it, He has promised us everything we need to survive any trouble that comes our way. For us to enter this rest, we have to unite these promises we have in the Word of God with faith, or simply believe them.
(Confession of sin works using this same principle. We confess our sins, and since the Word of God says that God has promised to forgive us and cleanse us, we claim that promise, believe it, and relax, realized that our sins are forgiven.)
There are technically 3 steps to get to this rest.
a. Learn and claim Biblical promises, and mix them with faith.
b. Apply a doctrinal rationale, e.g. the character of God, His omnipotence, or His omniscience. Know that God is God.
c. Faith then makes a conclusion, and is now in charge of the situation. You trust in God to accomplish His promises, and you now have rest in the situation.
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. (God promises us rest, but
we should be worried about coming short of it!)
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 promises us rest, complete freedom from worry and anxiety! It’s not just hearing the Word and the promises He has made that’s important, but to make it profit us, we have to mix it with faith.
It’s one thing to know the promise; it’s another to believe it!
Here’s a good example. Imagine you are in a bad situation (for some of us, that might not be too hard
to imagine!)
Romans 8:28-32
28 And we know that God causes all
things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called
according to His purpose. (There’s the promise we need to believe)
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
30 and these whom He predestined,
He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He
justified, He also glorified. (Here are the different doctrinal principles
that we apply to the situation. We know from things we have learned that God
has done all these things for us)
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
32 He who did not spare His own
Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely
give us all things? (Here’s the conclusion we reach, and that conclusion
leads to REST!)
Just in case you haven’t learned any promises to claim, here are some!
Romans 4:21
21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also
to perform.
The whole key to finding rest in every situation is to take these promises we learn, believe them, and trust God to accomplish what He has promised. Then we will truly have that rest of Matthew 11:28-30.