Striving…to rest

As I read Psalm 62 today, I saw it in a different way from how I’ve always seen it.

David writes,

I am at rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him. (Psalm 62:1)

And again,

Rest in God alone, my soul,
for my hope comes from him. (5)

Obviously, David is talking about resting in God in times of trouble. And he was looking for physical salvation from his enemies.

But today, I looked at this psalm from a spiritual point of view.

So often we strive to be holy. Or we strive to succeed in ministry.

Now those are good things, but for what reason are we striving?

For many Christians, we still feel somehow that we need to earn God’s favor. “Oh yes, I’m saved by grace. But I’ve got to prove to God that he made a good choice in saving me.”

And so we pour all our time and energy in trying to prove ourselves to God. (And to others, for that matter. “I’m a good Christian! See all that I’m doing?).

The result? We get tired. We burn out.

But God says, “Rest. You have nothing to prove to me. I love you. I chose you. You’re already mine. Rest.”

And if we can truly understand that, our whole motivation for everything we do changes.

We strive to be holy, we strive to serve God’s kingdom, not to prove ourselves to God or others, but out of a heart of joy and gratitude. Because we are already accepted. We are already loved. We are already saints.

Are you tired because of ministry? Are you burnt out from trying so hard to be holy?

Rest in God. Your salvation comes from him. And if you must strive, strive as the writer of Hebrews commands us.

 Let us then make every effort to enter [God’s] rest. (Hebrews 4:11)