Way of Rest  - 7

Beloved of God,
 Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus. We continue with our focus on The Way of Rest. We urge you to keep forwarding the mails and to get back to us as often as the need arises. Soon enough, we will have opportunity to circulate some of your responses. Keep focused.
     THE WAY OF REST (7)
 In our last write-up, we started a sub-series on Entering into Rest, in which we began to consider the ingredients by which a man may enter into rest. We then considered the place of fellowship. In continuation of this focus, we are considering the place of understanding and obedience.
(2) Understanding
From the Scriptures, we learn that "understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it" (Prov.16:22a). Yet we know that "understanding" does not operate in isolation. It works with knowledge and wisdom. For instance, the Bible teaches us that "wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times". Yet without understanding, a man cannot move from knowledge to wisdom. Knowledge deals with information, the raw material for growth.
Understanding supplies the meaning and the purpose of the information received, thereby revealing to man the ways of God, the will of God and the Person of God.
Wisdom supplies the help by which that which is known and understood may be practised. No wonder, the Bible teaches: "Through wisdom is an house builded and by
understanding it is established: and by knowledge shall all the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches" (Prov.24:3-4). By implication, stability comes through knowledge, understanding and wisdom. We must not trust in the letter of God’s Word, for "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" (2 Cor.3:6). The pathway of understanding is the pathway of life and rest.
(3) Obedience
No doubt, certain things will spring up in the place of fellowship. An understanding of the will of God will come, and obedience should follow. We must never expect to be at rest when we are outside God’s will. What then is God’s will? It is the mind of God, the heartbeat of God. For this reason, it takes a man after God’s heart to fulfil it (Ac.13:22).
Many have settled for the more general definition that portrays the will of God as the Word of God, and they are not wrong. Yet when we understand that God’s will does not need to be expressed in order for it to be His will, we will automatically become seekers (Heb.11:6a,Matt.7:7).
Naturally, obedience flows from a knowledge of God’s will. Yet we cannot always conclude that disobedience flows from an ignorance of God’s will.
This leads us to consider some of the many faces of disobedience. When a man says "no" to God, he has disobeyed (Jon.1:1-3). When a man falls short of doing all that the Lord has commanded, he has disobeyed (1Sam.15:10-24).
When a man goes beyond what the Lord has instructed him to do, he has disobeyed (Num.20:7-12). When a man yields to any counsel that contradicts the instructions of the Lord, he has disobeyed (1 Kin. 13:7-24). Again when a man, under pressure (as a result of situations and circumstances) does something different from that which God has revealed, he has disobeyed (1 Sam.13:5-14).
 These are but samples. Areas of disobedience abound, and so do the Scripture references. One thing is certain: Each act of obedience is a step into rest, while each act of disobedience is a step away from it.