As I went on a run recently, I begin to think about some of the big things the Lord is asking me to do for Him. After a few minutes, I started to fill a little overwhelmed. As I the stress began to come on me, I felt like the Lord spoke to me and said:
“When I created man, I waited until the earth was finished before I placed him in the garden. I put Adam in a finished work. He didn’t have to work for anything and he didn’t have to strive for anything. I gave him everything he needed to do all I called him to do. Why do you think I would treat you any differently?”
Those words really set me free. God has given me everything I’ll ever need to do all He has called me to do. The same is true for you too. We don’t have to beg and plead and stress that we don’t have enough. We can rest in God’s goodness demonstrated through the finished work of the cross.
Think about it, Adam was resourced with everything he would ever need to do all he was called to do. God had already created the earth along with the sun, moon, water, animals, and trees that yielded the food Adam needed before He put Adam in the garden. God didn’t create Adam and think, “Oh no! Where am I going to put him? I better make a planet with food on it to put him. He set Adam in a finished work. If that wasn’t enough, Adam didn’t even have to do online dating to find a wife. God brought Eve to him. All Adam had to do was rest in God’s provision and enjoy life. This is true for us today. Look at Hebrews 4:3:
3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
The writer of Hebrews tells us the children of Israel didn’t step into the promised land because they didn’t rest in the finished work of God. In context they didn’t believe God gave them the ability to defeat giants so they decided to not enter the promised land. They believed God hadn’t done enough for them to walk in victory. This is a lack of faith and God called it a lack of rest. Why? Because if we really believe Jesus has told us to do something, then we should also believe the provision is available to carry out the assignment. We rest in the promise.
For example, when God led our church to hire two staff members during the pandemic, He had already made provision for their salaries even though in the natural it didn’t look good. God was talking to me about increased attendance, increased outreach, increased responsibility, and much more in the pandemic even though people stayed away from church by the droves initially. He told us to do it and we obeyed and He has provided. It didn’t make sense to my eyes, but God spoke to me through His word and in my heart and He provided. It was His wisdom too because our church is now growing and He knew we’d need the help.
God wants each of us to live from rest. We do this by obeying the written word and then responding to the Holy Spirit with any specific instruction He gives us. What is God asking you to do? Maybe it’s a little step or maybe its huge, but either way the provision for the step of faith God is asking you to take has already been made available. All you have to do is believe.
The key to doing that is seeing our lives like Adam in the garden. In a sense, we were placed in a finished work. The provision for our lives is there because God is a perfect father and He will always resource us for anything He calls us to do. All we have to do is believe and obey. We don’t have to stress, we just need to simply need to live from rest! If you’d like to learn more about living in the abundance of God, check out this message I taught at Grace Life Church.
