There’s no place like home so they say! Home is the place we are familiar with, where we know where all our things are kept. And when we close the door behind us, we shut out the world and come into a place of safety, (well, that ought to be so!)

Home is a place of familiarity, a place where we can be ourselves, and when time permits it’s a place where we can do the things we like. That sounds like a place of rest to me!

The Lord Jesus is that sweet resting place for all of His believing people, because He is the One with Whom we can be perfectly at home with. He is the believer’s refuge and liberty. The more we get to know Him the more we will appreciate what it is to:

There is a most precious and divine process to all of this, but before any of us can know what it is to rest in the Lord, we have to first be a believer!

So it stands to reason that there is something very important upon which we must believe in order for this divine process to begin.

We, as members of the human race are marked by sin, and sin is that which separates us from a loving God who wants to lift us from the lifeless and aimless path upon which we have walked and set our feet as it were on solid ground.

We live in a shifting environment among a sea of shifting opinions where there are no absolutes, and therefore there are no certainties, and nothing upon which we can trust, or in which we can find hope.

Because of our sin, we were as helpless as the next person, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us…” Ephesians 2: 4. Mercy is what we need and God is abundantly merciful, and reached out to people like you and me in our sinful and needy estate with the remedy for our sin dilemma.

The precious Son of the living God came in obedience to live out a life of sinless perfection, and demonstrated to all what God is like. Everything God would have done Jesus did because He was ‘God … manifest in the flesh’. 2 Timothy 3: 16.

And after His short life and ministry He was taken by wicked hands and crucified. And during those dark hours where no one could see, a mighty work of God was being accomplished; for Jesus was dying in the place of poor lost sinners. He was ‘the Lamb of God bearing away the sin of the world.’ See John 1: 29.

The cruel cross and all of the events leading up to it were certainly a harsh revelation as to what was in the heart of man, but Jesus was there on a mission, and that was to reconcile sinful mankind back to God.

All that He came to do was accomplished there in those dark hours on the cross, and when it was completed, He cried with a loud voice: “It Is Finished!” The work was done, and nothing ever needed to be added to it. All that God now requires is for people to believe on the Lord Jesus and what He has done on their behalf.

When the Philippian jailor in the Book of Acts was as his wits end and was concerned about his soul, he came to those who had the message of the Gospel: the words of hope, and he asked: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved …” Acts 16: 30-31.

Have you noticed that the men answered ‘believe on’, not ‘believe in the Lord Jesus …’? I never really noticed this before until a relative brought this to my attention. These words were on a calendar I was giving to her as a gift for Christmas some years ago. She looked intently at the words with a question in her expression until she finally asked: “Shouldn’t that say ‘believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved’? Rather than what she thought might have been a typo.

I had to use a bit of quick thinking, and the Lord gave me this answer. ‘In order to get on right terms with God we have to understand our need and accept His remedy. We all too often have our own ways and our own thoughts and lean on those instead of God’s ways.

When we believe on the Lord Jesus, we are letting go of everything we thought was right and we lean all our weight on Him and what He did on the cross to save sinners. That is what trusting is. It’s like reclining on a bed and letting it take all of our weight.’ She got it! Well, at least she understood the difference between the two words in this instant.

So, in order to come into that precious rest God has in mind for us, we must first believe on the Lord Jesus. We must first leave all of the old life behind, all of our old thoughts and ways and lean fully on Him, and then we can begin to appreciate what it is to rest in the Lord.

We cannot find our rest in the Lord we are not prepared to fully lean on. We cannot appreciate all that there is in Him if we never trusted Him. But once we do, God opens unto His believing people a treasure store filled with eternal wonders to enjoy and appreciate here and now.

Who wouldn’t want something like this while living in such a troubled world in which we are living right now?

The Lord Jesus Himself invites us to: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matthew 11: 29.

This is because He knows that it is a delight to our hearts to learn of Him! He wants to make Himself known to us, because knowing Him is life eternal, which is life of the highest quality.

Knowing Him intimately brings to the heart the deepest of joy, peace, and the rest He promises. Knowing Him that well stabilises our souls and gives to us a rock solid foundation. Knowing Him is the safe pillow upon which to lay our head.

All this in Him and so much more. It is a truly wonderful thing to be found in Him, garrisoned about with His love and protection. In him we can truly rest even though the world all around us is in turmoil, we can shut the door as it were on the world outside and enjoy the familiar company or the Lord and lover of our souls.