Where may my soul find rest? My soul finds rest in God alone. Day after day our souls are tormented by the unrighteousness all around. Like pilgrims we become aware more and more that this is not our home. So, we long and eagerly await for our home, a home or righteousness. Home is where our souls can find rest.
When Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden and blocked from eating of the tree of Life, their souls were set on a pilgrimage, which manifested through the lives of every man and woman in future generations. Shalom, where can we find it? Is it possible in this world?
A young child puts his hands over his ears when he hears his parents fighting and runs into his bedroom. He cannot stand strife. Such a child will become restless and fearful. Can he ever feel at home in a home where the parents are tormented day and night?
We in this life are trying to find a hiding place like that young child where we can be safe from the strife all around us. Hide me in the cleft of the rock! How we cry out for that place where our soul may find peace, a dwelling place. God is waiting for a home in us as well. King David was beset with a desire to find a resting place for God and did not want to find rest himself until he built a house for his God. We both will be comforted when we find a home in each other. In Revelation the whole human story is summed up when God declares that now his home is with man! Oh, to live in him and him in me. That is shalom. Be still, and know that he is God. Come unto him all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest…rest for your souls. I stand at the door and knock. I desire to come in and eat with you. I want fellowship with you…I want to share my very heart with you and you with me. I want to be your friend.
The saga of the Jewish people illustrates this quest for a home. They were promised a land, a home of rest, if they would walk in obedience to their God. God promised them freedom from their enemies, prosperity and safety. He also said that if they turned their hearts after other gods and no longer walked in obedience that they would have to leave their home, the Land of their promises. During different seasons of their history they were expelled from their homeland and were permitted to return time and time again only to be expelled once again. The soul of a Jew represents mankind’s desire for a home, a permanent home where they need not be afraid. By helping Jews return to their home it will help us to enter into our home of rest. Two tribes of Israel wanted to settle on the other side of the Jordan instead of going into the Promised Land. They were given permission to do so as long as they helped their brothers obtain their place of rest first. So too today the nations will not find their rest until Israel finds her rest in God in her Land. Satan does not want this …it is the battle of the ages. Once the Jews are in their land, Israel and her God come into proper alignment. This will unleash salvation for the world…shalom.
Many are in dire straits in the world today because of a failing economy. In Haggai the Israelites were chastised for not caring about the condition of the house of the Lord. God said that the reason why they have found their labors unfruitful, “You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes.” Haggai 1:6 He that the reason for their houses lying in ruins was because they had neglected the House of God. In God’s own sovereign ways has chosen Israel, Jacob, to be his chosen inheritance on earth. Israel is to be his permanent dwelling place on earth.
6 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever
Let cooperate with God so he can receive what he wants. Let us hasten the day of Yeshua’s return.
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Eze 37:26). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.