Finding the Rest of God

There have been couple of days, I find myself waking feel restless just because knowing it is still another day of the similar situation. I always wrestle with myself my effort to visit him in the morning. I have been thinking, what is rest? How to enter the rest in God? I wish that there could be no trouble, then there will be a freedom for rest. Then again, will I totally be at peace in such stagnant rest? To enter the real rest of God is trusting Him and having no worry at all in time of adversity.

February 17

Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]
—John 14:27

Concerning entering God's rest I would like to say this: There is no such thing as "the rest of God" without opposition. To illustrate, let me share a story I once heard involving two artists who were asked to paint pictures of peace as they perceived it. One painted a quiet, still lake, far back in the mountains. The other painted a raging, rushing waterfall which had a birch tree leaning out over it with a bird resting in a nest on one of the branches.

Which one truly depicts peace? The second one does, because there is no such thing as peace without opposition. The first painting represents stagnation. The scene it sets forth may be serene; a person might be motivated to want to go there to recuperate. It may offer a pretty picture, but it does not depict "the rest of God." Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you." (John 14:27). His peace is a spiritual peace, and His rest is one that operates in the midst of the storm—not in its absence.

Jesus did not come to remove all opposition from our lives but rather to give us a different approach to the storms of life. We are to take His yoke upon us and learn of Him (See Matthew 11:29). That means that we are to learn His ways, to approach life in the same way He did. Jesus did not worry, and we do not have to worry either!