Entering His Rest

As you read the end of the book of Joshua, we learn that the Israelites had driven out the inhabitants from their promised land. The land was divided among the tribes of Israel, so that each tribe had their own lands to establish their people. Once again, God had fulfilled his covenant promise to Abraham’s seed. The people were now settled and no longer needed to fight for what God had promised them. They could rest in their land and have freedom and peace from their enemies.

“Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass” (Joshua 21:45). God looks forward to keeping his promises to us. Most times, God is waiting for us to move forward and do what he says. The generation of Israelites in the book of Joshua, did not make the same mistakes that their parents made. Their parents were too afraid to move forward to possess the land, when God told them that it was time. The result was that they died in the wilderness while their enemies lived in their land for another forty years.

We are grateful to God that he restores. So a missed, opportunity due to fear or lack of faith, will often present itself again. That is how faithful God is and he will create many opportunities for us to walk in his will. We sometimes miss out on the rest and peace of God through lack of faith. There are burdens that we have carried for longer than necessary, because we have not entrusted them to God. There are opportunities that we have missed out on, because we have chosen to take matters into our own hands. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

Our God is faithful despite our human failings and he is ready to forgive and to cleanse us from all disobedience (1 John 1:9). We can choose to start over at any time and once we submit ourselves to God, he makes all things new. “for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:10).

A.P.-Y.