Your Safe Resting Place

Stacy Hulm is an online friend with whose graciously expressed permission I can share something she wrote not long ago —

One of the most notable but over-looked things about Hell is that it is a place of NO Rest. Revelation 14 tells us that those who go there never rest. Never. They are in eternal anguish and pain with not even a second of reprieve. Unrest is torture. That’s why people who are constantly in a state of anxiety, unforgiveness and fear are living a hellish quality of life.

I spent a whole week at a healing conference in California to come back back with one sentence that God spoke to me repeatedly: “Stop trying!”

I didn’t realize how much I’m always TRYING to makes things happen, or to win God’s approval or the approval of others. But, trying leads to burnout. He needs me for the kingdom for rest of my life and “trying” is work and it DEPLETES our strength. I haven’t seen any verses in the Bible that tell us to keep “trying.” Instead, Isaiah 41:10 and hundreds of other verses tell us that GOD will strengthen us, uplift us, fight our enemies, and go before us clearing the way so that all we have to do is walk behind him on a cleared path. Listen to this beautiful verse in Deuteronomy 33:27; “The God of your fathers is your safe resting-place, and under you are his eternal arms: driving out the forces of your haters from before you, he said, Let destruction overtake them.” (BBE)

Resting in his big, strong, loving arms is how we please God; not trying.

Jesus tells us that those who are heavy laden will find rest with him. The whole Bible is about rest! The promised land is a land of rest! Rest is the blessing of God and Hebrews 4 tells us that we enter that rest through Jesus.

I strongly suspect that some of you need to spend the next week resting instead of trying. Resting is a heavenly existence while unrest is a hellish one. Take a break and ask God what ways you need to stop “trying.”

— Couple that with last weekend’s “Fried?” series of my humble blog that spilled over onto Monday.

I’d love to hear your answer to the question those early Methodists asked one another in their small groups, “How is it with your soul?” Hit me up, any of the usual ways.