REST: Quiet; repose; a state free from motion or disturbance; a state of reconciliation to God.
Key word definitions
Repose: To lay; to rest, as the mind, in confidence or trust; as, to repose trust or confidence in a person’s veracity.
State: Condition; the circumstances of a being or thing at any given time. These circumstances may be internal, constitutional or peculiar to the being, or they may have relation to other beings.
Reconciliation: Agreement of things seemingly opposite, different or inconsistent.
Scriptures
If we believe, though, we’ll experience that state of resting. But not if we don’t have faith.
Heb. 4:3 MSG
And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Rom. 5:11 NKJV
Who remembered us in our lowly state, For His mercy endures forever.
Ps 136:23 NKJV
You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.
1 Cor. 7:23, 24
Personal Application
My natural, lowly state is not rest. I cannot strive for salvation so I must continue in this rest and allow God to work on my behalf. His wisdom is much more valuable to my life’s plans than mine is. My reconciliation with God is complete in my quiet rest.
This is definitely not easy for me, this resting. Ceasing from my labors is totally foreign to my natural flesh. There’s got to be some way I can strive to obtain, work to get, labor to achieve. But as long as I do this I am frustrated and exhausted. What I need done I cannot do and that is the hardest struggle of all.
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
John 19:30 NKJV
He has completed. I can rest. All is well.