Return
to Rest
By Elin Henderson
“Return to your
rest, O my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.”
Psalms 116:7
(NKJV)
One way or Return are one of the first
things that you click on when you are doing a travel search for airfare
tickets. Return indicates that you started off at some
location. And logically, you want to return there.
We
were designed and created for rest, but how much of our lives today reflect a
life of rest? Sadly, very little. Adam and Eve were given God’s presence, His
life, His peace and placed in a perfect place of rest in the Garden of Eden. All
that they needed was provided for them. They simply fellowshipped with their God
each day and looked to Him for all of their needs.
This
rest came to an abrupt halt when Satan deceived Eve, and sin was brought into
the world. They ceased to look to God and His provision, and instead they fell
for the lie that there was something “more” out there that they were missing
out on. God’s presence was removed from them as they exited the Garden, and
they were left empty and hopeless in the hands of Satan.
Since
then, there has been a futile fight to find that rest again. We started off
there, and we are frantically looking for the return side of that ticket. Rest
and the presence of God are one in the same. Without His presence, we have no
rest. Jesus’ death on the cross bridged that gap that was between ourselves and
God, making a way for that rest to return to us once again through His Spirit’s
indwelling presence.
Yet,
I know in my own Christian life, rest at times remains sadly elusive. Struggles
come my way and instead of returning to the source of rest and remembering how
God has dealt bountifully with me, I wallow in a state of worry. I need that
reminder. That I have the return
ticket in hand: His presence with me. I
need only board the plane and return to that place of rest, my Garden of Eden,
where God and I dwell hand-in-hand, and He is all I need.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Can you
think of any other examples in Scripture where God’s presence brought rest to
His people? (Hints: A suffering Job.
Daniel with a den full of hungry lions. Three men in a fiery furnace. Paul and
Silas beaten and shackled in a jail cell…just to start you off!)
FURTHER READING:
