While talking to my little one yesterday about why she must take a nap, I realized that when she disobeys my simple command to "go to bed," she is showing a lack of faith. When she finds some excuse to not do as she is told, then she is showing that she does not trust her provider (me.) As I shared this knowledge with her, I was struck by the weight of it. So many times truths do not become real to us until we can vocalize them.
Reading in Hebrews later that night, I discovered in 3:18,19, "And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief." The context here is in reference to the Israelites in the wilderness, and that they did not enter His rest (the security of the promised land) because of their unbelief. But notice that these two verses are parallel statements, thereby making disobedience and unbelief interchangeable. Therefore, we must understand in our hearts that we cannot have one without the other.
We, also, are like little children desiring to choose our own path as if we know what is best. We say we are people of faith, but there is no fruit of submission, no turning away from our own interests, no trusting the Provider. Jesus Christ is our Sabbath rest; without Him we will surely labor in vain.
"And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Romans 4:3
"For as through the one man's [Adam] disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One [Jesus] the many will be made righteous." Romans 5:19
Belief=Obedience=Righteousness
"There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience." Hebrews 4:9-11
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