Hebrews 4:11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so the no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
Work and rest don’t enter into a conversation too often at the same time. These two things are often viewed as mutually exclusive. You can’t rest when you are working. You can’t work while you are resting. Our work week is set up with work and rest days. This is one of the cycles of life.
I’m not sure there is a profession where you get paid to rest, unless it is a mattress tester or recliner comfort specialist. By the very definition of work, it involves some effort. And effort is the opposite of rest.
The writer of today’s text has taken us as readers on an historic tour of the history of the nation of Israel. Israel started with a journey out of slavery and was supposed to end in the Promised Land, a land where the LORD promised abundance for His people, and lots of rest from their labors. The contrast must have been apparent to them, the labor as slaves in Egypt, never having enough, and the abundance of the Promised Land, with the LORD blessing every effort that would make.
Slavery had been a time of turmoil, where effort caused no blessing for the people laboring. All the fruit of their labor benefited someone else. There was no profit sharing, no stock options, no eating the fruit of their labor.
The Promised Land was filled with vineyards and orchards that someone else labored to plant and cultivate, but the fruit would benefit Israel. The Land was already set up to provide for the people of Israel. Their job was to occupy and cleanse. Then they would enjoy the rest the LORD had promised.
There was some effort involved in cleansing the land. There were battles to be fought, but the LORD was the One enabling victory. It was not Israel’s efforts that would determine the outcome, it was the LORD’s faithfulness that would carry the day. They had to just stay true to Him.
And this is where they got in trouble. They weren’t willing to accept these blessings with their conditions. They weren’t willing to stay true to the LORD. They wanted to wander, and wander they did. For forty years they wandered, until the whole generation that had come out of Egypt had died. They had chosen rebellion instead of obedience.
Now our choices might not seem to have as great a consequence as their choices did. We aren’t escaping actual slavery from a rival nation. We weren’t forced to face the humiliation of absolute rule under the hands of tyrannical government officials who want to control every aspect of our lives. We are not beaten when we fail to perform.
It is against this background that the writer pens these words that we read today. “Make every effort.” There is effort involved in entering. They had to pick up their feet and walk out of Egypt. They had to get ready for battle against the occupants of the Land. They had to participate in the battle, with the LORD providing the energy and the victory.
Effort which led to sharing in the fruitfulness of the Land. They still had to plant and harvest, but their efforts would produce an abundance, enough to share with a hurting world, the blessing being a mark of God’s blessing.
But the story ended up very different than this picture of abundance. They disobeyed His commands for absolute loyalty to Him as their God. And the rest is history. Their rebellion cost them their lives and the blessing of being His people.
Our rebellion also has a cost. Wouldn’t you rather live in the blessing?
The Arnold Journey 