RESTING AND REJOICING FAITH

“For we who have BELIEVED do enter that REST…” – Hebrews 4:3a

Whatever lockdown you may be in, there is a realm in God that’s called RESTING and REJOICING FAITH: “For we who have believed do enter that REST…” (Heb.4:3a). Dwight L. Moody usually referred to three kinds of faith a Christian can have: struggling faith, clinging faith, or resting faith. Struggling faith is like a person floundering fearfully and striving to keep afloat in deep water. The clinging faith is like a person clinging to the side of a boat to keep afloat. The resting faith finds a person safe inside the boat, free from every struggle and stress, strong and secure enough to reach out his hand to help someone else.

Resting faith is not some mystical feeling that we might experience at times in a church service or during a spiritually high moment. It is simply the daily repose of a life that has learned to relax in God’s providential care. Such an attitude is the result of ceasing to live for self and starting to live solely for God’s glory. This is the sort of faith we need in order to be positively impactful as Christians – and such faith may be ours through the disciplines of the Spirit in our lives, as we learn patience and endurance. Running the Race of Faith requires endurance: “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb.12:1b). Ponder on these words which were found penned on the wall of a prison cell: “I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when I don’t feel it. I believe in God even when He is silent.”

Many believers are yet to reach or taste the blessings of this elevated realm of faith – the ‘rest of faith’ or resting faith. Multitudes are still meandering between struggling faith and clinging faith. Others are sliding into a collapsing faith!

Struggling faith is portrayed by Peter walking on the waves. So long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, he was able to walk on the water. But when he took his eyes off Jesus, he sank into the waves and shouted for help (Matt 14.29-31).  How often we take our eyes off the Lord, and strive to do things for ourselves and fail in the end! But for His stretched-out Hand of Mercy!

Clinging faith was displayed in Acts 27, the shipwreck just off the coast of Malta, sequel to the Captain’s failure to heed Paul’s warning: “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives” (Acts 27:10). But, the Captain paid more attention to the flesh than to spiritual guidance; he chose to walk by sight, not by faith (Acts 27:11-12). Ultimately, all the passengers in the ship escaped to safety by clinging to boards and pieces of the ship, and the Mercy of God (Acts 27:44). Praise God, we have God’s promises to cling to. Despite our feeble faith, His Word carries us through.

Resting Faith is seen in Genesis 7. At the instance of the Almighty God, the whole world was flooded for forty days with torrents, thunders and lightning. The fountains of the deep opened and the floodgates of heaven poured out their fury upon the world. Everyone perished in the Flood, except Noah and his family. They were safe in the ark, feeding the animals, and waiting for the next divine move. God had shut them in, and though the waves tossed the ark, it remained above the Flood. What a wonderful picture of our salvation and security, our redemption and refuge in Christ!

When will our often-troubled heart learn to rest in Jesus, safe in His everlasting arms, protected by His truth and faithfulness? Paul walked in a higher kind of ‘resting faith’ – a ‘REJOICING FAITH’! While he was on “lockdown” in prison, without the daily routines of normal life and ministry, bound with chains, and physically helpless, he continued to soar in spirit, writing to the saints outside of the prison walls: “Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say, Rejoice!” (Phil 4:4).