My cell phone vibrated on the table next to me, and the screen lit up with the name of a dear friend and fellow believer.  I opened the phone (yes, I am still stuck in the Technological Dark Ages) to quickly scan her text:

I have a favor to ask.  Would you state the 1st thoughts that come to mind for each of the following?  *Definition of rest.  *List some reasons why resting may be difficult.

She was working on a Bible study and was w-rest-ling with the topic of “Rest.”  So she decided to employ one of her “lifelines” and phone a friend. Unfortunately I was in the middle of something when the text came through.  I made a mental note to get back to her as soon as I had a free moment, then snapped my phone shut.  (Good thing a million dollars wasn’t at stake or I might be minus one friend.)

Several days (this may be a conservative estimate) later, I remembered The Text.  The one I had neglected to answer.  The one I had also inadvertently deleted.  (I may be minus one friend after all.)

Perhaps I could still respond.  If I could only recall the question.  It was something about “rest.”  Oh yes.  How would I define rest and why is it difficult to rest?

Here is the first thought that came to mind:

Rest is knowing you are loved.

One way I have learned to distinguish the voice of God from my own thoughts is that His voice usually startles me with its clarity and conciseness.  It’s typically something that I wouldn’t have come up with on my own.  Like that definition of “rest,” for example.  I also know that He will never contradict what He has already communicated in Scripture, so I went there next.

“May the LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” (Ruth 1:9)

This was Naomi’s prayer for her two recently widowed daughters-in-law.  She equated rest with the safety and security found in the marriage relationship.  Because life without a husband in that culture and time would have been anything BUT restful.

One of the sweetest things Chris said to me early in our dating relationship was that he just wanted me to feel “secure.”  I loved the way I could relax in his presence.  I didn’t have to perform to impress him.  I felt completely accepted and unconditionally loved.  In his love, and in the marriage commitment that followed, I could (insert big sigh of relief here) REST.

The good news is that regardless of whether we are currently married, never married, or newly single, we have a God who desires to be that loving husband to us.  He spells out His intentions clearly in Isaiah 54:5:

“For your Maker is your husband–the LORD Almighty is his name–the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.”

I just want you to feel secure.

Like a groom on his wedding day, He vows His love and commitment to His bride a few verses later:

” ‘Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” (Isaiah 54:10)

I love you with an unfailing, unshakable love.

When we know we are perfectly and unconditionally loved we can “cease striving, and know that (He) is God.”  (Psalm 46:10)  We don’t have to perform to earn His love and favor.  We can relax in His presence.  It’s like sinking into the comfort of a warm bubble bath.  Ahhhhhh.

Rest is knowing you are loved.

I feel compelled to ask in closing:  Have you found this place of rest?  Have you entered into a covenant relationship with the One who pursues you with an unstoppable love?  Jesus proved that love by offering His life in exchange for yours.  All you have to do is respond with a heartfelt “I do.”  (And would you please let me know if “you did”?)

No one will ever love you like He does.  You can rest in that fact.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a text message to send.