Rest for the Weary

Whether early on or far into the journey of the Christian life, we will find that our confidence is not in our own strength or abilities:

My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (Ps. 73:26).

Rather than a secret struggle of few Christians, nagging questions on how to rest in right standing before a holy God are what led Martin Luther and John Calvin to reformation. Luther argued scripturally regarding the bondage of the will, saying:

Whatever work I had done, there would still be a nagging doubt as to whether it pleased God, or whether He required something more. The experience of all who seek righteousness by works proves that; and I learned it well enough myself over a period of many years, to my own great hurt.¹

The Reformers defined faith as a monergistic work built on the sure foundation of God’s unchangeable character. By His Word, God provides revelation of who He is and what He requires. Rather than an experience of security built on self, the Christian life is an active trusting in the faithfulness and veracity of God Himself. Contrary to dependence on ourselves or our cooperation, faith and the eyes to see grace at work is God’s gift because “faith is not obtained through human efforts at persuasion but is the special work of the Holy Spirit.”²

Luther’s discovery that “the just shall live by faith” acted as a paradigm shift in his life (Rom. 1:17). He understood sin as spiritual bondage rather than simply an emotional state or lack in mental learnedness. He realized that grace is revealed to the meek, saying,

a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he knows that his salvation lies altogether beyond and out of the reach of his own strength, counsels, desires, will, and works: till he depends absolutely upon the counsel, will, and work of another — that is, of God only.³

The Reformers saw this distinction not as new, but as a return to the early church fathers’ teaching. Here are three biblical principles to keep in mind when we are searching for rest.

1. Look to Christ.

Some come to faith with an awareness of their new knowledge of the reality of God and discovery of His revealed word in the Scriptures. John Bunyan’s allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress aptly describes many of the twists and turns of emotion that we may experience: shame, urgency, introspection, candor. A biblical view of faith brings lasting rest because when the knowledge of God’s grace toward us in Christ is viewed as the only proper “mirror” of election, then what follows is an assurance of God’s grace and mercy that hangs not on the thin thread of our choice and perseverance but on the unbreakable chain of God’s sovereign grace and mercy.⁴

If we see ourselves as in Christ by faith and “if God loves his people in Christ from all eternity, then nothing will be able to sever them from his love or frustrate the realization of his good purpose to save them.”⁵ Against the view that man is prepared to receive the grace of God by a decision or action of his own, both Augustine and Calvin taught that God alone provides the gift of faith.

2. Learn your history.

Some come to faith with an awareness of their new love for God. This often rightly brings a natural energy and passion for life and the things of God. When we run out of steam, however, we can remember that we are not simply united to Christ individually, but corporately as a covenant body. Our experience of rest is not always found in the circumstances of our individual journey, but in the historical reality of Christ’s finished work, complete in such a way that “he sat down at the right hand of God” (Heb. 10:12).

Believers do not separate justification and good works but rather look to their position in Christ to understand and find the ability to love God and others in a way unfathomable in our former separation from God. At this intersection, good works are still not meritorious, but rather a reflection of the character of God and a display of Christlikeness. Rather than simply one way among many to interpret the Bible, “the covenantal storyline of Scripture reveals the necessity of Christ and his work. And the same covenantal development also reveals the identity of Christ and the nature of his work.”⁶

Believers should make time to read the Bible, of course. But we should also take our time when we read. In the modern world we often quickly respond to what we read, inserting ourselves into the text before taking time to consider the original context. Christians are called to grow in their knowledge and understanding of themselves and the world, discerning and interpreting the experiences that have shaped them with realism through the lens of the gospel. In Christ we are finally able to face the painful realities of enslavement to sin with truth, light, and biblical freedom. This is surely a lifelong task. In all our striving for good works, change, and understanding, where can our efforts find rest? This is our call each Lord’s Day. The same means by which the Lord calls us to Himself also strengthen and give meaningful confidence to our faith. This takes away the mystery of rest by returning the believer to God’s Word and not any other authority for confidence.

3. Fellowship with His people.

Calvin describes the greatest threat to faith as unbelief in God’s help and acceptance of us. He recognizes ignorance, temptations, the conscience, and adversaries as all having devices and weapons working in effort to overthrow our faith, writing, “These are always directed to this objective: that, thinking God to be against us and hostile to us, we should not hope for any help from him, and should fear him as if he were our deadly enemy.”⁷ Calvin recognized something about the place of faith within the believer, saying, “Unbelief does not hold sway from within believers’ hearts, but assails them from without.”⁸

In trials Calvin reminds believers “to hold fast bravely with both hands to that fellowship by which [Christ] has bound himself to us.”⁹ Calvin’s heading here directs the reader, saying, “The indestructible certainty of faith rests upon Christ’s oneness with us.”¹⁰ Christians need no new revelation, but rather to reflect on and make use of God’s choice of revelation to us through His unchangeable Word.

Both biblical history and church history remind us that we need rest, that it can be found, and that Christ is a well that does not run dry. The sincere searching of the Scriptures in these historical documents provide an oasis for the trials of the modern Christian. The Reformers used the means of grace for such respite. Likewise, the Westminster divines showed that the sacraments remain effectual “not from any virtue in them, or in him that does administer them; but only by the blessing of Christ, and the working of his Spirit in them that by faith receive them” over and against the need to prepare for grace or receive remission from a human priest (WSC 91). The Heidelberg Catechism also recognizes,

By this visible sign and pledge,
that we, through the Holy Spirit’s work,
share in his true body and blood
as surely as our mouths
receive these holy signs in his remembrance. (Q&A 79).

Time and the ordinary means provide the believer the resources we need for battle with the promise that we “are never left without such a presence and support of the Spirit of God as keeps them from sinking into utter despair” (WLC 81). These declarations are not made with empty hope but anchored to scriptural truths, for in the Scriptures we see a picture of how the ordinary means provide respite and spiritual insight to the believer:

But when I thought how to understand this,
It seemed to me a wearisome task,
Until I went into the sanctuary of God; . . .

My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. . . .

For me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
That I may tell of all your works. (Ps 73:17, 26, 28).

1. Martin Luther, Bondage of the Will, trans. J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnston (Baker Academic, 2012), 313.
2. John Calvin, The Bondage and the Liberation of the Will: A Defence of the Orthodox Doctrine of Human Choice against Pighius. ed. A.N.S. Lane, trans. G.I. Davies (Baker Books, 1996), 31.
3. Luther, 100.
4. Cornelis P. Venema, “Predestination and Election,” In A Systematic Summary: Reformation Theology, ed. Matthew Barrett (Crossway, 2017), 279.
5. Ibid.
6. Stephen Wellum, Christ Alone: The Uniqueness of Jesus as Savior, series ed. Matthew Barrett (Zondervan, 2017), 35.
7. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion. ed. John T. McNeill. trans. Ford Lewis Battles. 2 vols. (Westminster Press, 1960), 566.
8. Ibid., 567.
9. Ibid., 570.
10. Ibid., 569.