Micah 2:10-11
Get up, go away!
For this is not your resting place,
because it is defiled,
it is ruined, beyond all remedy.
11 If a liar and deceiver comes and says,
“I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,”
that would be just the prophet for this people!
What does ‘rest’ mean to you? The feeling of sinking into your bed at the end of a long day? 10 minutes on the sofa with a cup of tea? We all want rest, but it can be hard to find. Some of us are so busy that rest feels impossible. For others, empty hours weigh heavily on us rather than providing the refreshment of true rest. What really is rest and where can it be found?
The idolatry of God’s people means they are on the verge of being driven out of their land by the Assyrians. But, as we saw at the start of this chapter, this is about more than just geography. Their land is not only their home but also their inheritance - the physical reminder of their covenant relationship with their God. That’s what lies behind the idea of a ‘resting place’ in verse 10. In the Bible, ‘rest’ is less about feeling comfortable, or the absence of work, as we tend to think of it. Instead, it’s all tied up with enjoying the presence of God. To be with God, in right relationship with him, is to be ‘at rest’. It’s about safety from enemies and the security of knowing we belong to, and with, the Lord. And so the promised land of Canaan should have been the ‘resting place’ of God’s people. Yet Hebrews tells us that a whole generation of Israelites died in the wilderness, after the Exodus, because their unbelief prevented them from entering into the rest which God had offered them. Even for those who did enter, the experience of rest was only partial. At the high point of their history, under the rule of the Christ-like King David, the land was said to be ‘at rest’. But it doesn’t last. The later failure of both kings and people to worship God means that they now look set to lose not only the land but also the rest that it symbolises.
When Jesus says, in Matthew 11 ““Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” he is offering us something much, much better than 10 minutes on the sofa with a cup of tea! His coming makes possible a full, permanent experience of rest that the Old Testament Israelites only had glimpses of. When we find our rest in him, by faith, it will never be taken away. This life may continue to be busy and difficult, but we can look forward with confidence to the eternal rest of being face to face with Jesus, totally safe and secure. Let’s praise him for that today.
