Today
Let us rest
With hearts
Softened, still
On the seventh
As God
From all His works
By faith
Let us rest
Today
Let us hear
Listening
Attentively
With intentions
To obey
His voice
By faith
Let us hear
Today
Let us fear
And obey
Him, whom
We must give account
While the promise
Still stands
To enter
Into rest
By faith
Let us fear
Today
Let us seek
The word of God
Living
Active
Sharper than
A two-edged sword
Piercing
Dividing soul and spirit
Joints and bone
Discerning
Thoughts, intentions
Of the heart
We are known
By faith
Let us seek
Today
Let us persevere
Clinging to our
Hope
Jesus
High priest
Son of God
Tempted as us
Yet without sin
Who passed
Through the heavens
By faith
Let us persevere
Today
Let us draw near
To the throne of
Grace
Confident
We may receive
Mercy, grace
In time of need
From our
High Priest
By faith
Let us draw near
Today
Let us unite
For no creature
Is hidden from
His sight
Let God see
Us, in unity
Resting
Hearing
Fearing
Seeking
Persevering
Drawing near
By faith
In Christ
Let us unite
Today
About the Poem
I wrote this poem about Hebrews 4, the chapter that invites one to rest. Coming from a season of learning to rest, a sabbatical year, the word rest and I have history. I have struggled to accept it, rejected it, craved it, embraced it, and protected it.
We have had our moments.
Words like do, worry and anxiety, achieve, and succeed independently have equally fought for my attention. Yet, rest remains my sanctuary, a known place to weather the storm.
That is, to rest in Jesus.
For rest is as physical for me as it is spiritual. Our bodies need sleep, and our souls need peace; both, I find, equate to rest.
When I rest in Jesus, I know peace.
“Peace I leave with you;
John 14:27
my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled
and do not be afraid.“
Rest in the bible is an exchange, a letting go and letting God, an act of faith. It is as hard as you can imagine, to trust, and surrender your life to a holy being that you cannot see. Yet, that is the cost for this rest, this peace—to trust in Him whose wisdom exceeds far beyond our understanding.
“You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.“Isaiah 26:3
With such uncertainty in these times, with wave after wave of crises, many crave this inner peace now more than ever. And the good news is there remains this place of rest, where the body and mind can be in the midst of a battle, and yet, the soul still, at peace.
Imagine.
Hebrews 4 is one of those chapters that is full of communal invitations, principally, to ensure we find this rest.
“Let us strive… Let us confidently draw near… Let us fear… Let us hold fast our confession…”
This chapter feels to me like the author assumes his readers are of a separate group, the obedient ones, who will find rest compared to the others, the disobedient, who also heard the news but did not find rest.
It’s like he is saying, “Hey, pay attention. Those others didn’t listen, and they missed something good and wonderful, but you aren’t them, right? No, of course not. So, come, let’s strive to enter this rest together. There is still time. There is still hope for you. There is still today.“
Dear Princesses, with this in mind, likewise, I invite you to rest today. Come with me as I hold on to the only One I know who can make sense of chaos, who is mightier than all rulers of the earth, who can make a way when there seems to be no way: Jesus, the God of hope.
Come, there is still today.
With love,
Katya
Hebrews 4 (ESV)
“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,
“As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest,'”
although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.