Lamentations 1-2, Hebrews 9:11-10:18
When my seventh-grade friend first shared the gospel with me, he frightened me with continual reminders that I was going to hell apart from knowing Jesus. So alarmed was I that was afraid to go to bed at night. I had never really thought about death and the afterlife, but I then could not get it off my mind. Night after night I slept only because my body eventually shut down. Then, I became a believer in August 1974. God saved me and made me His child – a fact I knew was real because I slept like a baby the first night I was a Christ-follower! Rest became sweet when I knew I belonged in the hands of Jesus.
I thought about that part of my testimony as I read Lamentations 1 today. The Hebrews had rebelled against God so recurrently that He had brought judgment on His people. The city of Jerusalem lay in ruins “because of her many transgressions” (Lam 1:5) – and the people were exiled. They now lived “among the nations” but found no place of rest (Lam 1:3). It’s likely the reference to “no rest” was a reminder that the people had lost what God had given them: a home in the Promised Land. No longer were they in that place of rest.
Actually, that’s what sin does to all of us. We who are the people of God should find no rest when we live in rebellion against our Redeemer. Rest comes only in obedience.
PRAYER: “God, grant me grace to follow You with full obedience. Let me rest in You.”
DAILY ACTION STEP: If your soul finds no place of rest today, ask God to show you why through His Word and His Spirit.
TOMORROW’S READING: Lamentations 3-5, Hebrews 10:19-39