Rest in Peace

Feeling like a live wire, no mental rest or relief, I find myself craving Jesus' words: "Come to me and I will give you rest." Words I often crave and cling to as a my hope. Rest seems far away, no matter how much I lay down and physically rest or choose to "be" instead of "do". The deep unrest in my mind and soul overwhelms those efforts often leaving me with mental chatter suggesting laziness or apathy, wondering if I may be slipping into a depression or if the mental marathon is just leaving me worn out.

On my way to work, I was listening to the words of Moses when the Lord reminded me where my rest will come from.

And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. 

Leviticus 16:29-31

The natives, the chosen race, were commanded to 'shabbat' and deny themselves, to rest in the atonement made for them. In the same way, the Lord commands the stranger. This simple phrase "the stranger who sojourns among you" is a loving foreshadow of the access Christ gives me. I am the stranger, the gentile, the wild olive shoot, but the Lord made plans for me to enter into this rest hundreds of years before He made the way through Christ.

When Jesus Christ was murdered on the cross, His blood became the final, all satisfying sacrifice. The work of the cross gives me more than just one day atonement, of cleansing from my sins; the cross gives me a whole life of days and days of purity. And because Christ's life didn't end at the cross, I can claim this rest for all eternity. "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. . . if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him." Romans 6:5,8

This reality in Christ is my hope and peace. The death of Christ, my solemn rest, my eternal Sabbath. A blessed statute, to rest in you forever not because of what I have done, or what I could ever do, but because of who You are and what You have done. The resurrection of Christ, my solemn rest, my eternal Sabbath. Because of Christ, I can rest knowing that all that the Father gives to you He gives to me. In your resurrection, I have been born into your family and can rest knowing that a good and loving Father is caring for all of my burdens and meeting all of my needs. 

"What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand"