God’s rest, sword & judgement

"Don't worry friend, just trust in God!"  I'm sure you've either heard or said something like this at some point.  The question today is do we truly understand what it means to enter into God's rest and where do we start?

As a quick illustration, I think about getting ready for bed in the evening.  There are all these steps to take before crawling into that wonderful place called bed.  After finishing dinner there is a shower, then brushing teeth, flossing teeth, rinsing with mouthwash, getting my water cup ready, saying goodnight to everyone and finishing up last minute conversations, going to the bathroom one last time, forgetting then remembering to take vitamins / supplements and finally getting to crawl into bed and entering my rest.

Whew, what a process!  All these little steps take quite some time.  Now, let's look at Hebrews 4 where the author is talking about a sabbath rest for the people of God.  Remember how Moses and the Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years because they would not listen to God to take the land?  So what did God say......"So I declared on oath in my anger, They shall never enter my rest."  Unlike the others, Moses did not enter because  he struck the rock instead of speaking to it as instructed by God.  This was to show the faithfulness,  holiness and supernatural work of God and instead by hitting the rock, Moses showed disobedience in trusting God and his process and way of doing things.

Verse 10,11 says, "for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his work, just as God did from his.  Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.  Right after this the scripture talks about the word of God being like a sharp double edge sword that penetrates, divides, and judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  But wait, swords?.....penetrate and divide?........judgement?........how dies this connect with resting in God?

You would think entering into rest would simply involve your decision to stop action and rest.  However, if that is all it took then a 40 year detour in the desert should not have happened.  Next time, let's visit about the thoughts and attitudes we carry everyday, trusting God, and how all the little steps add up to entering into God's rest.