He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Is your faith active or passive? I ask myself the same question. This verse from Hebrews tells us that God is a rewarder of those who seek him diligently. I remember years ago when my oldest grandson was about 2, I had just bought a new house and I took him into it, to show him round. There was not a stick of furniture in the place, and he asked me if we could play hide and go seek. You hide grandpa, he said, and I will search for you.

So I went into the furthest room and hid in the closet. Ready or not here I come. Are you in this room grandpa? No! Are you in this one? No! Eventually he comes into the furthest room. Are you in this one grandpa? Remember not a stick of furniture. Yes. So he comes to the closet, opens the door and says “I found you grandpa!”

His little face was a picture, such joy. He had age appropriately, given everything that he had. He had searched diligently, not perhaps diligently for a 20-year-old, but diligently for a 2-year-old. He had given it everything he had, and the reward was according to his having given everything. Such joy!

I was hiding for him, not from him, and God does the same thing, He hides for us and asks us to search for him diligently. He does not hide from us but for us. It is the glory of God to hide for us, is is the glory of His children (Kings and Queens) to search it out Proverbs 25:2. Remember He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

These things should cause us to question where we are in our faith. How do I handle the difficult circumstances, the disappointments, the trials and tribulations, the temptations? The Lord knows where we are on our journey, and he has promised that he will not allow us to be tested or tempted above are ability to endure 1 Corinthians 10:13. Part of searching for him diligently, is to ask him where he is in these difficulties, to ask him, as the verse stays, where the way of escape is. It is said that faith is like a muscle, it needs to be stretched and tested in order for it to grow stronger.

Father help me to know that you are always near. Help me to choose to believe, to really believe, that you are actively at work in all things for my good. Let these thoughts not just stay in my head, but manifest in my attitudes and actions, and let my growing faith increase a confidence in You, in Your promises, in Your word, in Your character, and in Your extravagant healing love for me.

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God Hebrews 4:9

The rest that the writer to the Hebrews speaks of here, is both eternal rest, and here and now rest. In fact eternal life, the life of the age begins now. It is as with the kingdom. The kingdom is here, and not yet. So it is with the rest.

If we are to enter into the fullness of life that Jesus promised, then we need to operate out of the place of rest. What does this look like? Well what it does not look like it is striving and worry, stress, outbursts of anger and similar works of the flesh.

In the context of the Scriptures that were looking at this morning, we can fail to enter into rest because of disobedience (verse 11). But we are also told in chapter 3 and verse 19 that Israel could not enter into rest because of unbelief. So that is both disobedience, and the lexicon as adds stubbornness in its definition of this word, but also unbelief. In fact worry is both of these things. Firstly because Jesus tells us not to be anxious about anything. It is a command. And of course with the command, Jesus also gives the wherewithal to do what is commanded. It also has to do with faith. Worry is the exact opposite of faith, except that it can be thought of as faith in what might go wrong.

So it is possible to enter into this rest in the here and now. But again the command is to be diligent (verse 11 again), or as some other translations say strive to enter into rest. In particular when we catch ourselves worrying we need to take authority over our thought life. Likely we will need to repent, confess that we are worrying, and that all worrying is both unbelief and disobedience. We then need to ask God to fill the empty place with faith and a spirit of obedience.

Father, forgive me for the times that I have worried, fretted, allowed negative thoughts and fears to overwhelm me. Cleanse me from such. Give me your joy, your peace, your rest in Jesus name.