About Lay Me Down
“Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord
has dealt bountifully with you.”
Psalm 116:7
Purpose
Entering the rest of God has been my prayer and remains my goal. This website is dedicated to giving voice to my journey, sharing things I’ve learned, and taking as many with me as will come. Hebrews 4:1 tells us, “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.”
For me, entering the rest of God means laying myself down and trusting God to be my God. Believing that He is more than able and wants to meet my every need, carry my every concern, enlighten my path, and provide for the journey. We begin to enter that rest as we begin to realize who God is and who we are to Him.
When we realize who God is it means we begin to conceive Him vividly as real or become more fully aware of Him.There’s no doubt that God is real. Yet, sometimes He seems distant – out there somewhere. He can seem somewhat of a foggy reality. However, He promises that when we seek Him, we will find Him. (Jer. 29:13) The more we seek Him, the more vivid He becomes to us. We become more fully aware that we are not alone. This enables us to begin to lean into the One with whom we journey.
My journey began when I entered into a living relationship with my Creator. For me, entering into His rest hinged on a fuller realization of these two points. First, He created me, which means He knows me intimately. (Gen 1:27) Secondly, He wants to have a living relationship with me. (Jer 24:7)
It’s the same for everyone. It’s not God’s will for us to have a salvation experience and then go our own way trying to figure it all out and get it all right. This took a very long time for me to understand. Realizing that I was in a living relationship with God because of the new covenant, of which Jesus Christ is the Mediator was the first step toward rest. (Heb 8:8-12; Mark 14:24)
We don’t use words like mediator and covenant much today, so they seem kind of foreign. Simply put, Jesus being our Mediator means that Jesus Christ provided the way to restore our relationship with God by His sacrifice. He became sin for us, and gave us His righteousness, which puts us in right standing with God. ( 2 Cor 5:21) This means that we aren’t trying to gain right standing by works. By faith through grace, we accept Christ’s sacrifice and make Him Lord of our lives.
Christ’s sacrifice allows us to enter into the new covenant with God. (Heb 9:15) This, simply, means that we become HIS people and He becomes OUR one and only God. He grants us forgiveness and guides us on our journey. Most importantly, we know Him. He puts His Spirit within us, and chooses to reveal Himself to us. He reveals His plan, His purpose, and His way to us. (Heb 8:10-12)
God doesn’t reveal everything to us at all times. Many times we just need to trust. Yet, when we are mindful of the fact that we walk with the One that wrote all of our days in His book, we will find rest. (Ps 139:16) We remember that He has ordained good works for us, which He will bring to completion. (Eph 2:10; Phil. 1:6) We’re not meant to feverishly work. We’re meant to walk with the One that has prepared the works and created us with them in mind.
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:31+32
We also find rest in the realization that God is for us. He has a good plan for our lives, and He is guiding us in that plan. (Jer 29:11; Isa 48:17) Sometimes the road feels long and overwhelming. It may cause us to question the plan. How can this be good? Is He really for me? Weariness tries to creep in.
In these times, we must do as David did and encourage ourselves in the Lord. (Ps 43:5) We remember that He has invested more than we ever will – He gave His Son and seals us with His Spirit. (Eph 1:13)
He has become our God, and made us His people. (Heb 8:10) This means He is our everything. He is our Father, our Rock, our Advocate, our portion, our Strength, our Teacher, our Guide, our Comforter, the One who walks beside us, and Friend. He IS for us and has spared no expense showing us!
We don’t rest only in knowing God is for us, but in knowing Him. The understanding that someone is for us brings little rest if they are powerless to help us. A small child being for us may bring comfort, but it won’t bring rest. Our rest blossoms in discovering the magnificence and character of the God we serve.
Out of God’s abundant grace and mercy, He chooses to make Himself known to us. God’s revelation of Himself through the pages of Abraham’s life gives me hope that I, too, can enter into His rest. We’re able to watch as Abram struggles with understanding who God is, and revel with him as he begins to see the magnificence of God.
We see the significance of the revelation of God’s character in the life of Abraham in Genesis 17. The timing is significant as well. It comes after Abram has tried to fulfill the promise of God on his own through Haggar, and before God telling Abraham how HE (God) will fulfill His promise. God appears to Abram and says, “I am Almighty God.” In the Hebrew it’s El-Shaddai. The word comes from various roots suggesting that it means: sufficient, lord, mountain-god, or rain-god. (1)
I don’t know exactly how El-Shaddai was interpreted in the mind of Abram that day. We do know that His response was one of awe and reverence. He fell on his face. (Gen 17:3) Most likely, all of those characteristics of God found in the name El-Shaddai were understood by Abram. God knew Abram needed a greater revelation of Him.
The revelation of God allowed Abram to see God as He truly is – not as Abram imagined Him to be. God is all sufficient. He doesn’t need our help. God is Lord of all. He has all power and authority. Just like a mountain, God is stable and immovable. God, like the rain, brings provision.
It was vital for Abram to see God as He truly is, because God was getting ready to raise the dead (Sarah’s womb) to birth a nation. (Rom 4:19) Abraham needed to be on board. All of Abram’s striving was speaking unbelief. Understanding God’s character was necessary, so He could stop striving, trust in God, and rest in knowing Almighty God.
I want to be like Abraham. I want to stop striving to bring what God has promised to pass in my own strength. I want to rest in knowing… He is always present, all powerful, all knowing, the Beginning and the End. He sees yesterday and knows what tomorrow brings. There is none like Him. He is the Ruler and King of everything. By the word of His mouth the world and everything in it was formed and is held together.
I want to rest in knowing… He is for me, and has a good plan for my life. He is walking with me and guiding me. He died for me and is now interceding for me.
Knowing what a great God I serve, I want to willingly lay down my life, trust in His character and rest in His love. I want to fulfill every plan and purpose He has for my life. More than anything else, I want to endeavor to know Him more each day. I’ve come to understand that in knowing Him, I will enter His rest. I haven’t arrived, but I’m on my way. I hope you’ll come with me.