Rest Comes from Obeying

For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. (Isaiah 28:11-12)

The consequence of not following God appears right here in these verses: they would not hear; they would not act on what God had already said; the word that came to them became hard to receive and difficult to follow. Like a stammering tongue, they could not make sense of it. Disobedience has a way of doing that. But look at what God had offered them before it got to that point. He said, "This is the rest." Not rest as in doing nothing, but rest as in finding the place God has called you to and walking in the peace and prosperity God wants for you. That is the rest God wants His children to live in.

There is a kind of weariness that has nothing to do with how hard you work.  It is the weariness that comes from being out of place, from striving in a direction God never sent you, and from carrying something He never asked you to pick up. People wear themselves out that way and then wonder why they have no peace. The rest God is pointing to here is the peace that settles on a person doing what God told them to do. I can tell you from personal experience that this kind of rest is real. I have no confusion about God's call on my life.

There is no waking up in the morning wondering if this is really what God intended because I am walking in my calling, have obeyed every step He has given me, and have kept moving forward in the Word. I have a settled peace in my life. The tragedy in these verses is the last five words. "Yet they would not hear." God had offered them the very thing they needed, and they turned it down. It was not because it was unavailable, but because receiving it would have required obedience they were unwilling to give. Do not let that be your story. The rest is available. The refreshing is real. But it is on the other side of hearing and doing what God has already said.

Practical Application

Are you carrying a weariness that comes from being out of alignment with what God has called you to? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you have not heard or not obeyed, and take one step back toward the place of rest He has prepared for you.

Matthew 11:29; Isaiah 30:15