Part 1: How He Gives Us Rest (MIT)

Part 1 - How He Gives Us Rest
Chapter 28 from Major Ian Thomas' book "The Indwelling Life of Christ"

Suppose you were digging a hole, and I offered to give you a rest. How would I do it?

While you continued shoveling, I could call down a suggestion to you such as, “Try tossing the dirt over your left shoulder instead of your right.” I could sing a song about digging, or discuss all the philosophical thinking that might relate to it.

Would any of that give you rest? No, it would more likely give you a heart attack! Yet, those approaches are very much like what today’s Christianity tries to do to bring rest to struggling believers, all in vain.

How could I truly give you rest if you were in that hole digging? Obviously, there is only one way: You must get out and let me get in. You must drop the spade and let me pick it up. You must quit and let me take over. You must vacate the hole in the ground so I can occupy it.

This is the way the Lord Jesus wants to give you and me rest. “Come to Me”, He says, “all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). This is His offer. He is saying to us, “Get out, and let Me get in. Vacate, and let Me occupy. Drop the spade and let Me dig!”This is what happens when you take Christ at His word, when you come to Him and say, “Lord Jesus, I want the kind of rest that only You can give me.” You bow yourself out and bow Him in. In true repentance you say, “Lord Jesus, I cannot, and You never said I could. You never expected me to do this on my own. All You have expected of me, apart from you sharing your life with me, is the failure that I have been on my own.

“It is true: I cannot – but in genuine confidence I acknowledge that you can! Therefore I will translate what I know and believe into faith, and I will let You do it. I will get out of this hole and let You get in. I will vacate so You can occupy. I will drop the spade so that You can pick it up."

Knowing this, and doing it (through Him working in you), is such a relief!

What happens next? As you vacate, incredibly enough the Lord does occupy. He surprises you beyond your wildest dreams. You discover at last that God is big enough for the job. Your heart is filled with joy, and this experience of His adequacy undergirds your faith for the next situation that arises when you recognize your need for Him, your need for His rest, and for relief from your own ineffective self-effort.

Then when the next time of difficulty comes and you begin to feel weary and burdened once again, you can say, “Lord Jesus, thanks for what you did the last time. It was fantastic. I had been baffled and could not see any possible solution to the problem I faced, but You came through magnificently. However, the situation I’m facing now is ten times worse, but that is exciting, Lord Jesus, because this gives you ten times more opportunity to demonstrate that , as God, You are never less than big enough! So, I thank You, for I am vacating and you are occupying.”

To your amazement, magnificently He handles the situation in His own way and in Him own time (which if you knew that you would agree completely). You have learned to walk by faith, and every new experience of his adequacy undergirds your confidence as you receive more and more of His grace.

This is how we learn to grow in grace.
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And since Jesus is the one digging the hole, there’s not much left for you to do but sit in the shade and drink margaritas! So, don’t be surprised if there doesn’t always seem to be a lot of activity that the Lord leads you to. Remember, you’re not the one digging. You’re not needed right now. So go do something you want to do. Which brings me to Part 2: True Rest