Are you restless or anxious? Are you missing the rest God intends for you?

There is a clear connection between faith and entering God’s rest, between unbelief and failing to enter God’s rest. Unbelief has a way of deceiving and hardening our hearts to the point where we end up trapped in sin. Ultimately, unbelief leads to disobedience.

The chosen people of God in the Old Testament, not very different than us, are our example. Their unbelief, we are told, led them to rebellion against God’s ways and His plan for them. As a result, they provoked God and He led them through the wilderness for 40 years. Furthermore, He prevented them from entering His rest and the promised land.

So the warning given through the author of Hebrews still rings truth to us today. Two times the warning is presented to us in the following way:

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Heb 3:7-8, 15)

In looking further, into chapters 3-4, we can see that entering God’s rest refers to resting from our works—just like God rested from His. It also refers to the fact that when we rest we are actually obeying God’s will and thus entering into what He has for us.

Can you recall a moment when you entered God’s rest? You knew you were trusting? You tasted the blessing of His plan?

Just in case we need good examples of what this looks like, Moses and Jesus are described as faithful ones over the house of God. In the case of Moses, he was introduced to point to a better reality. In the case of Jesus, He is the Son set over the house of God—His people. In chapter two, we are told that Jesus “was faithful to him who appointed him” (verse 2). Jesus is our ultimate example of what it means to believe, obey and enter God’s rest.

How are you struggling to believe?

How is your heart being deceived or hardened?

Any ways you can celebrate God’s rest in your life?

The Good News is that there is One who qualifies as our perfect example. His name is Jesus. But there is more. He has become the “author and perfecter” of our faith (Heb 12:2). So even when we are struggling to belief we can go to Him—He is able to perfect what we cannot perfect on our own efforts.

Take courage. Where there is a hindrance to belief there is a Savior who is committed to make our faith complete.

—Diego Cuartas