2 Ch 15:15 “… they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them, and the LORD gave them rest all around.”

Many of us…yes even those who claim the mantle of faith, are “restless” today. We are unsettled and jittery. We have the attitude, “If I could do this, then I would find rest. If I could get this, then I’d have rest. If I could just manage this level, then I’ll be rested.” Yet we never get there, and we never know what it really means to be at rest in Christ.

Hebrews 4:7 says, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice’…” It doesn’t say “If you will do this thing or that thing.” It’s clear that He actually wants us to hear His voice! Israel saw the hand of God for 40 years in that wilderness, but they never came to a point where they actually knew God. They just kept looking …kept wandering. They “always went astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways. So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”Ironically, that peace was, for 40 years, literally within their reach, and yet they never laid hold of it. It was right before them the whole time and yet they died out there, just as so many of us will.

Coming out of Egypt’s slavery, the people moved forward just far enough to come right up to the Promised Land, that place of promise. God said, “I’ve got this land of milk and honey. I’ve got this land of wealth, this land of rest, this land of safety, and I want to give it to you.” The people got right up to the river’s edge…they could literally see it from where they stood, but because of fear, because they didn’t really believe God despite all He had already done, they respond with, “Oh, I don’t think so….there is giants and battles over there. I think I will stay here where it’s ‘safe.’”  They were so close, but still missed it by a mile…

And so God answered, “Ok, …alright… fine. No rest then. Wander.” Yet even after His people rejected His invitation into the rest…after they choose rather to wander around the desert year after year, God, on some level, still blessed them. The scriptures say that He led them through the wilderness by a cloud during the day to shade them and by His fire at night to show them the way.  He provided food to eat every day and gave them shoes that never wore out.

But year after year, the offer remained: “Come to my house. Know that peace that I created you for.” And yet, as they wandered—by the hand of their own doing, remember—they actually had the incredible audacity to start complaining! They grew bitter and angry, and pretty soon, they were all up in Moses’ face and each other’s too. Sound familiar? It ought to. It’s happened here in front of you enough times that this should be a familiar story. And what happened to them? What happened to those that we have witnessed on that road? The same thing that happened to the Israelites. They died out there. They lived their lives and died out there in the wilderness.

Oh yes…God loved them! But they never really knew Him! They ate that same bland manna every day and grumbled about it, even though God didn’t want them eating manna any more than they wanted to eat it. But that was the result of the decisions they had made and were still making! He wanted them to have big chocolate chip cookies and pudding at His house, but no, they wanted to wander around in the wilderness instead and then grumble about it! 

“Today, if you hear His voice…” Do you? Are you even in a place to hear Him today? He’s trying to talk to you, but where are you? Angry? Bitter? Harboring ill feelings toward Him? How many of us are in the wilderness and yet still want to insinuate that it is somehow His fault or the fault of other believers that we are there. Yet those individuals made it a second career to try to wave you off and coax you over to God’s house for pie and coffee, or in this case, “milk and honey,” but you wouldn’t go. CS Lewis once commented “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

God is still calling you, even if you are like so many out there in the wilderness today. You can turn around and come home. Turn around and find that peace, that rest for your soul that God wants to give you. Go back to that place where you told God “no” and ask for another chance. Step across the river and find rest for your soul. Ps 116:7-9 “Let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me… He has saved me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. And so I walk in the Lord’s presence as I live here on earth!”