His Ways and His Rest

Come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For He is our God,
and we are the people of His pasture,
the sheep under His care.
Today, if you hear His voice:
“Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah in the wilderness
where your fathers tested Me;
they tried Me, though they had seen what I did.
For 40 years I was disgusted with that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray;
they do not know My ways.’
So I swore in My anger,
‘They will not enter My rest.'”
(Psalm 95:6-11 Holman Christian Standard Bible ©®)

The writer of the New Testament letter to the Hebrews quoted this passage in 3:7-11. The three reasons I believe Yahweh took His new nation into the wilderness were so that 1) He could help them learn Who He is, 2) He could help them learn who He said they were, 3) He could teach them their purposes in the earth by teaching them His intentions in the earth.

Because they refused to learn these things that were in His heart, they were not allowed to enter the place He had brought them from Egypt to lead them into. Because they would not learn His ways, He would not give them His rest.

Learning His ways is not the same thing as learning the difference between good and evil. It is learning His heart. It is learning why He makes certain decisions. It is learning what He hates and what He values.

The Pharisees had the rules memorized, but that knowledge did not lead them to the Ruler. Unless your righteousness (the ability to be under His influence) exceeds that of the teachers of the law and of the Pharisees, you will not have entered His dominion – His Kingdom (Matthew 5:20).

If you are restless, ask Him what you might be missing regarding His ways.