What does it mean to "rest" in God? Is there only one meaning?
I would suggest the scriptures teach there is an initial rest and an on going rest.
After we have come into God's Kingdom and into our initial rest from His rightful judgment and condemnation, we are called to enter into and partake in an ongoing rest (contentment). This ongoing rest occurs when we live according to two keys truths.
1. We thank God for everything He allows in our lives - especially the "bad" things - whether we understand why they are happening or not.
2. We faithfully (though not necessarily perfectly) seek to do everything God calls us to in His word whether we like it or not.
The 1st (i.e. hard circumstances) we do not control and must accept (receive) ¹passively and the 2nd we do and must pursue actively. Both require a choice we make by faith and in this sense both are active i.e. we influence - "control" - how we respond and how they affect us.
But neither can happen without God's strengthening/ empowering us (i.e. we can't do it in our own strength) but by His strength which only comes through deeper trust in Him. We must come to a place where we fully recognize He is trustworthy in both what he allows and in what he calls us to and respond accordingly i.e. in and by faith. This is our choice alone and determines how these things influence and shape us.
The theological underpinnings needed to live this way are infinitely deep, because they are grounded in trust in the infinite love, power, faithfulness, care and wisdom of God i.e. they must go as deep as God is vast, and as much as our faith allows us to embrace Him as being exactly as He is and claims to be.
To give assent to and ²faithfully carry or live these out we must recognize (believe) God ³is always good, all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving at all times and in all things. If you doubt these things about God in relation to you, you will not be in a posture of humility and dependence needed to enter His rest. You will remain - abide if you will - in a state of agitation i.e. unrest, anxiety or fear.
This is the essence of the now popular saying, "God is good all the time, and all the time God is good."
Does this mean we will never struggle with believing these things?
Christ himself - the founder and perfector of our faith - wrestled with this in the garden of Gethsemane. He wrestled both with obedience (active), and accepting (passive) what God was getting ready to allow him to go through.
What settled it for him was one very simple decision, "...not my will but yours be done." He came to the place of complete surrender and trust. Once he did, his struggle was over. He was at peace i.e. resting in his trust in the Father regardless of what He was about to and did go through.
This is why he was able to calmly say to his disciples, "See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” Matt 26:45b-46.
He stared pain straight in the face and out of his total trust in His Fathers love, wisdom and power was able to embrace the pain, the humbling, and the shame he was about to go through. From this point forward he set his eyes on the cross and never looked back.
Christ was empowered to make this decision because he believed his Father was all-knowing, all-wise, all-powerful and all-loving at that moment in that given circumstance.
We too are called to this and can carry it out by the same strength we receive through this same trust in the Father. When we do, we too will calmly - restfully - and deliberately move forward in life, no matter what is in front of us.
For a discussion on how God uses evil for good click here.
For a further discussion on why God allows suffering and evil click here.
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¹Passively only in the sense that we don't necessarily have to or can do anything regarding challenging circumstances (of course if we can, we should take action, but sometimes nothing we do can change things). But we are not to ever be passive in terms of faith. Our faith must be actively and willfully engaged to enter and remain in an ongoing state of rest.
Both being thankful for challenges and engaging others in sacrificial love require faith (in the same way it did for Christ), so in this sense, everything involves active engagement and is not passive.
²Some have suggested if you break the word faithful down it simply means full of faith i.e. faith full. To be faithful (obedient) no matter what we encounter, we must be full of faith.
³To acknowledge these things about God is not easy, especially when staring in face of evil and great personal pain.
What would you say is the biggest thing God is after in the lives of his children?
Is it not our experiencing a closer relationship with Him?
and
the most important element of any relationship is trust
and
that which requires our greatest trust is suffering, pain, and challenges. We must embrace these and thank God for them. Without faith/trust this isn't possible.
How? The "good" God works in and through all the things we go through - for those of us who love Him (Rom 8:28) - is to make us like His Son (Rom 8:29). In doing so, we experience the same level of glorious and blissful communion with the Father that the Son did (and does). This is the ultimate good end God is working toward - for us - through our struggles. Not necessarily improved circumstances. This has nothing to do with improved circumstances (though it could lead to them, just not automatically).
What better end is there then to experience God in all his love and glory to the greatest extend possible? And what better means is there to participate in this other then having the same faith (and faithfulness) Christ had? And what faith do we have if not a tested faith? And what tests our faith - and Christ's - most if not pain and suffering?
