From the ancient past till date, the quiet longing of the hearts of many people across the world – both developed and underdeveloped world is rest. We so much love rest that we came up with words like, “Thank God is Friday!” Each time various states or nations announce any holiday, the people are excited in anticipation of rest. In fact God so much packaged rest for the people of earth that He created night to compel us to rest from our daily efforts. Rest is so good for us that we are even excited to observe the Sabbath – another opportunity to rest.
However, the reality is far from ideal in the lives of billions of people across the world. The “hours of work” across the earth are so used up and loaded up that we almost always get exhausted daily. We wake up, get ourselves ready for our various “works” and we launch out – sometimes as early as 4 am in the morning; only to return home around 10 pm or 11 pm in the night. Too tired to add any real value to our families and even ourselves at home.
We love work so much that we hardly reexamine what we call work – we hardly question our judgment of what an ideal work should be and what an ideal life should be. We work so much, eat so little and work some more! We practically live our lives as if we are work machines, which are only lubricated and fueled to work some more.
Unlike many of us, certain men and women have found the secret to true rest – not just in the night, weekends or some holidays; but throughout the year. The secret is not unavailable for you and I; but it is usually disregarded and rejected by many of us.
Thus says the LORD:
Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the old paths,
Where the good way is, and walk in it:
Then you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
Jeremiah 6:16
The LORD God has ever intended that we all live in rest for our souls (minds, will and emotions). His intentions is that we experience mental rest, emotional rest and that we make our daily choices in true rest; however, we have always acted as people that love work even more than the One who created us, where we work and work itself.
The question I believe we must answer is that, “Are men and women rich in the world today, to the proportion of their “works”?”; “Is more work, more anxiety, more rush, more push and more work sleeplessness always equal to more reward?” The point is, we do not always get from work what we expect; just as we are not living the best life we dreamt for ourselves – all our pursuits have just been giving us impression of success without much progress.
What then is the way forward in the year 2017?
For from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and shows Himself active on behalf of him who (earnestly) waits for Him.
Isaiah 64:4 (AMP)
While scores of people across nations and generations love to work, some of us have decided in this new year 2017 to wait for God – who always work for us! Did you see that? We have see how many of us have been working out ourselves – at the expense of our health, family, progress and fulfillment; and we now see how a man or woman can just wait for God, Who loves to work for His people.
If you look through the book of Zachariah 4:1-14; you will know that each time God puts a burden on your heart for a work to be done; He doesn’t expect you to rush out tirelessly to do it on your own power, strength and wisdom – He actually expects you to return to Him, laying the burden before Him in total surrender to His will and total reliance on His Spirit to get the job done – He could then choose to do the worth through you or anyone else! In actual fact, our God love to work for those who wait for Him!
Brother Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:10, he said that doesn’t just love to work for us; we are in fact His workmanship! And in a letter to the Philippians (2:13), he noted very strongly that it is God who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Our God actually love to work – He wants us to rest on His Word, trusting Him all the way, enjoying the fruit of our lips; and reflecting His awesome glory and majesty on the earth – wherever we are!
