May He Increase

Posted By Joe on February 17, 2009

Around my family, I've been known to say that "I haven't had a good night's sleep since Sunday, December 23, 2007." The reason is that my wife went into labor with our first son on Christmas Eve. He was born on Christmas Day 2007. A few weeks before he was born, a buddy of mine that I've known for close to 30 years told me, "You will never sleep as good as you used to, now that you have a child of your own." He knows. His daughter was born a few years previously. And while my son as been sleeping through the night for sometime now, there are nights when he wakes up and doesn't want to go back to sleep. I'm blessed to work from home full time so I don't have to worry about falling asleep on the freeway during my commute.

Parenthood, to be sure, is exhausting. It's difficult to find times to rest, especially with a toddler who want to get into everything. It's also exhausting because, as a parent, you now have new stresses that you never experienced before; new worries that weren't there. God has been faithful and good to provide for my family and allow my wife to be a stay-at-home mom and for me to be--for the most part--a stay-at-home-dad! Being able to trust in the Lord and take rest in His provision is a relief.

Though physical rest sometimes alludes me, "salvation rest" is something that I can hold on to tightly. The book of Hebrews talks of this rest at some length and I'd like to talk about it over the next couple of posts.

Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house--whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end. --Hebrews 3:5-6.

Chapter 3 starts out by talking about the superiority of Christ over Moses. While Moses was only a servant in the house, Christ is the builder of God's house and over it. This is the basis for the remainder of the chapter. Verse 7 starts with "therefore." There is a rule of sorts when studying the Bible: when you see the word "therefore," find out what it's "there...for!"

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart, and they did not know My ways'; as I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest.'" Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. --Hebrews 3:7-12.

God expected the Israelites to trust Him to free them from Egypt and lead them into the Promised Land. But as we discussed before, they complained most of the time. God expects much the same of us in terms of Christ's redemptive work on the cross. He has freed us from the slavery of sin and wants us to know His ways, and enter the rest He has prepared for us. Paul exhorts us to not be like that unbelieving generation in the wilderness!

But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked me." For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? --Hebrews 3:13-16.

One of the great things that I have been blessed with recently, is encouragement from some of the Christian blogging community. I've mentioned previously that since starting this blog, I've gone through periods of doubt and even discouragement. It truly is a "day after day" journey we are on. Sometimes the longer you are a Christian, the easier it is to forget the "business of the Kingdom," so to speak and sin is there knocking at your door. Paul reminds us to encourge one another to stay in the battle and hold firm to our assurance.

And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. --Hebrews 3:17-19.

Unbelief. So much is riding on whether or not you believe in God's plan for salvation. My Bible titled verses 7-19 "The catastrophe of unbelief." It's a catastrophe of enormous proportions because it deals with where you will spend eternity!

The next post will discuss the consequences of this unbelief.

May He Increase (your belief and rest)!

Categories: Christian Living, Encouragement, Hebrews
Tags: faith, obedience, rest, salvation