How to rest on this day of rest . . .

Deuteronomy 26; Psalms 117–118; Isaiah 53; Matthew 1

To keep God and His grace continually before me, I’ve a small book of prayers on my night table. I read one short prayer from it before I get up, later writing it where I will see it often during the day. This prayer is often a focus. Today it was a request for rest, rest from the burdens of the world and the concerns and troublesome things that weigh me down. This is an important and needed request.

Today’s devotional readings add to it. Deuteronomy tells how God’s people were to review their history and give thanks when the entered the promised land. they were to think about the goodness of God and what that meant to their lives. Both Psalms praise God for His steadfast love and faithfulness, giving many examples of why the psalmist can say how the Lord is his strength and source of joy. He declares, “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24) 

Reading these passages gave me a good idea; I can make this a true day of rest and rejoicing by spending time verbalizing as many of God’s blessings as come to mind, rejoicing in all of them and being thankful. This chases away burdens like no other spiritual activity and brings rest to the soul.

Isaiah helps with that too. Chapter 53 is about Jesus, the Son of God who came into this world. He had no majesty that gave Him prominence but instead was despised and rejected. Yet He became the bearer of our griefs and sorrows, our sins and the punishment we deserved.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5–6)

This is the reason and the source of that ‘rest’ that the Bible talks about. Yes, God is sovereign and knows all things. Christians have the assurance that all the mess and confusion in the world is under His control and He is allowing it, even using it for His purposes. I can put my burdens on His shoulders and experience rest from my concerns. Yet there is another rest, a rest from the threat and fear of death. God put His Son on that Cross to die for me so that when I die, I will enter His promised land — the place where He dwells and will give me rest from all fears, troubles and sorrows. That rest is eternal because of Jesus:

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10–12)

His story begins in a humble way. He became a human being, God in human flesh, a baby even . . .

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:18–23)

APPLY: Even after years of believing it, this event still seems totally outrageous. What a thing for God to do, yet He did it. And because of His incarnation and His promises, I can lay aside all that weighs me down, the troubles in this world, the troubles closer to home, even my to-do list, and just rest. This is the day the Lord has made for doing just that: remembering and resting.