Psalm 116:7

Psalm 116:7

Return to your rest

What an extraordinary and beautiful statement this is! What is the “rest of the soul” that is referred to here?” Psalm 23:2-3 helps to answer this question by painting an idyllic picture, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.” Put simply, the “rest of the Lord” is quiet contentment, it is when we trust in Him completely. The storm has passed, the catastrophic events have ended, and we have been delivered from what seemed to be a complete disaster. Now, on reflection, we realise that we had no control of the situation, that the skills and ingenuity of those who helped were gratefully welcomed but the final say, the turning point rested in the hands of the One who is the arbiter between life and death. God alone can save us and deliver us and no one else can challenge His authority in this matter. 

This state of rest does not just refer to matters of life and death, Jeremiah writes, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls.”Jeremiah 6:16. For the Israelites, a state of rest spelled a time of freedom from fighting and threats from their enemies, the land is often referred to as “Being at rest.” For us all, the opportunity to stop labouring, to be able to enjoy the freedom of our relationship with the Lord and each other, that is rest. The Jewish Law and calendar have always included a Sabbath day’s rest each week and it does not harm us to do the same! 

It is important to enjoy the rest that comes at the end of a serious bout of fighting with our own lives or with our enemies but, pre-determined times of rest that are just simple opportunities to enjoy the presence and goodness of God, they are also vital to our souls. Put all of this together and we can understand why the wicked have no rest, even though they try a million different formulae to create it. It is also sad when believers, and I’m one of them, live such busy lives that they have no time to enjoy the goodness of the Lord. 

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