Theme

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Duration: 1min
 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 7
What is the secret of the unhappiness and restlessness of many a saint? A hankering after rest here. God is therefore obliged to discipline and exercise that soul—to allow, it may be, some circumstance to detect the real state of the heart by touching that about which the will is concerned. Circumstances would not trouble if they did not find something in us contrary to God; they would rustle by as the wind. God deals with that in us which hinders communion, and it prevents our seeking rest unless in Him alone. His discipline is the continual and unwearied exercise of love, which does not rest now, in order that we may enter into His rest. If He destroys our rest here, if He turns our meat into poison, it is only that He may bring us into His own rest, that we may have that which satisfies His desires, not ours. “He will rest in His love” (Zeph. 3:1717The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)). If we have the consciousness of liking anything that God does not like, we cannot be at peace. Even if we have found peace of conscience about our sins, through the blood of the cross, it will destroy our communion and peace of heart if we like anything that God does not like. If there is anything not given up in the will, there cannot be peace; if we have His peace, then if God comes in, our peace will stay.
J. N. Darby