by Carlos the Coconut
As a creative individual/musician hobbyist I can sometimes get stereotyped as being sporadic and unplanned in habit. However, quite the opposite is true about me. It’s true I easily go with the flow and am very calm in demeanor (as most coconuts typically are), but I do enjoy an organized and planned schedule (which is why Miss Christina and I are such good friends). It is also a characteristic I share and quite enjoy about our Almighty God.
In some of my Bible reading this year, I came across a very thought-provoking commentary note in my Bible. In Hebrews 3:7-4:13, the writer discusses the concept of God’s rest in the Genesis account of creation. The commentary states the follow:
That rest is a Sabbath-rest that is modeled on God’s own rest on the seventh day of creation. Clearly “rest” does not indicate God is inactive. Instead “rest” implies that God completed his plan for every contingency that would arise through history. (I underline this here because it is now underlined in my Bible too for emphasis.)
Talk about an organized and thought-out plan! I feel good about myself if I can get my schedule for the week planned out in a day. God had all the contingency plans for the entire earth for all of its existence figured out and set in motion in six days.
The commentary went on to state, “As believers we enter God’s rest by trusting God to have the answer for every uncertainty we face, and we find those answers by listening to God’s guiding voice and responding, in faith, with obedience.”
Have you had some uncertainty in your life in the last year (or two)? Do you know and believe that none of it was a surprise to God? Nothing caught Him off guard. Nothing was out of His control. Nothing made Him scrap His plan and force Him to shift to Plan X. God has had the answers from that first week of creation. God has never lost control.
The second part of that last quote raises and equally important question: are you trusting and listening to God’s guiding voice and responding with obedience? You don’t have to know the answer or have a perfect 5-year plan. You just have to be attentive to His voice and His Word and be willing to trust and follow where He leads and calls you.
Hebrews 4:12-13 NIV says, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
God’s Word is real, active and alive in our lives. Nothing can escape His omniscient power or fall out of His control. And we are all held accountable in the end for how we have chosen to listen, respond and obey.