"A Perfect Place" 2

"Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee." (Psalms 116:7)

 So much for the practical side of rest, because God's rest is not practical, it is supernatural! We don't get there by putting it into practice; we cannot experience it by thinking of it as reality. How many times I have settled into a place where I thought it was His rest, only to find my life upside down and rest being the furthest thing from my mind. We can witness this lesson my studying the children of Israel during their journey through the wilderness. Each and every time they were faced with a problem or circumstance, they immediately challenged God's love and protection; as if God just wanted to snuff them out, and there was not enough graves in Egypt for them all to be buried in. I am under the belief that God's rest is only realized by putting all of our trust in Him. The more fierce the trial or adventure becomes, the more we must trust, no matter what circumstances may arise! Each and every part of the journey is about us putting our trust in God, no matter what! That is so far from practical, it can only happen by surrendering our lives up to the Lord. It is us saying, Here I am Lord, take my life; do with it what you will! The word "bountifully," it does not just mean doing good to, or giving lots of gifts; it means to deal fully, as in weaning a child, or ripening fruit; in other words, God is not going to just bless you and then send you out on your own, He is going to complete the work that He has begun in you, and He will bring you through to the other side, whole...

"Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God's rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall. For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edge sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all of creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable." (Hebrews 4:8-13) NLT