How should we feel
when faced with adversity? What does
God’s Word say? We could do a “word
study” on adversity and we would find that a brother was made for adversity
(Prov. 17:17), that adversity follows sinners (Prov. 13:31), that people blame
you for the adversity that befalls you (Job 4:5), and that God brings adversity
upon believers who abandon Him and worship other gods (1 Kings 9:9; 2 Chron. 7:22). These are just a few instances in the Bible
that speak of adversity but today I would like to share about the very thing
that will either deliver us or see us through adversity: God’s Rest.
“Blessed [with wisdom and
prosperity] is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O Lord, And whom You teach from
Your law, that You may grant him
[power to calm himself and find] peace in the days of adversity, until
the pit is dug for the wicked and ungodly.” (Psalm 94:12-13 AMP)
Finding “peace in
the days of adversity” is the key. How
do we find this peace? What do we have
to do to obtain it? Nothing we can do
will grasp this peace, this rest. You
cannot sit and try to work it up with a mantra, “Today I will live in peace and
rest…today I will live in peace and rest…today...etc.” Its potential use was placed within us when
we accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord.
It is a free and
freely given gift from God, but consider this; when the mail man delivers a
package for you and you are not home he (or she) will leave a note in your
mailbox that there is a package too large for your box and it may be picked up
at the Post Office. He (or she) leaves a
key that opens a large mailbox at the Post Office in your mail box. What happens if you do not take that key and
go pick up your package? You will
probably get another note in your mailbox but after a certain amount of time
the unpicked up package is sent back to the sender. Well, God’s rest is like that. The key that God has left in the box of your
soul is “uniting with faith in God”.
When we accept Jesus as our Savior the Lord then placed that key in
us. All we need to do is exercise our
faith in God. The Israelites did not do
this; they sought their own ways and other gods so they were not able to enter
into the rest (Psalm 95:10-11).
Heb. 4:1-3a AMP…”Therefore, while the promise of entering
His rest still remains and is freely offered today, let us fear, in case any
one of you may seem to come short of reaching it or think he has come too
late. For indeed we have had the good
news [of salvation] preached to us, just as the Israelites also [when the good
news of the promised land came to them]; but the message they heard did not
benefit them, because it was not united
with faith [in God] by those who heard.
For we who believe [that is, we who personally trust and confidently
rely on God] enter that rest [so we have His inner peace now because we are
confident in our salvation, and assured of His power]...”
The more I daily read
His Word, spend quality time with Him (uniting with faith in Him), and have
fellowship with other believers, the more I FEEL His Presence and enter His
rest. Occasionally? No…it is a DAILY walk in Him that truly
brings that rest. You see, God has
placed that “key” in me for me to use EVERY DAY. I have found many a treasure waiting for me
when I use the “key” every day. Truly
the treasures are new every morning (Lam. 3:22-24). That way when something happens to me on any
given day that would normally devastate me instead it strengthens me and even
draws me closer to Him. THAT is God’s
promised rest!
Deut. 30:14-16a AMP says,
”But the word is very near you, in your
mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it. Listen closely, I have set before you today
life and prosperity (good), and death and adversity (evil); in that I command
you today to love the Lord your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every
day] in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His
judgments (precepts)”
Josh 24:15 AMP says “choose for yourselves this day whom you
will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other
side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live; but as
for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW20-fLe-y0
Do you desire to
triumph over adversity? Choose this day
(and every day) whom you will serve. As
for me, I serve the Lord and I now live, reside, and have made my home in His
Rest!
