This Sunday I’m preaching. And I’m finishing up the book of Joshua which our church has been going through for a while now.
I’ve been reading the end of chapter 24 over and over to prepare. The people of God in the land of rest. Joseph being laid to rest. Rest.
Rest.
And my own need for rest.
Rest from my works.
Rest from my worries. Worries about money. Worries about how I look in my work clothes. Worries about tomorrow. Worries about my kids. Worries about what people think. Worries about whether God loves me. Worries about having all the answers. Worries about so much that is out of my control. Worries about tomorrow in the middle of the night.
The need for rest is not mine alone. I am surrounded by the frantic and restless. The worried and troubled.
Just as there was a rest for the wandering people do God, there is a rest for the restless in America.
And I see them going to their inheritance in the words before me. A promised inheritance, one where God consistently showed them he was faithful to take care of them and fulfill his promises and care for them even when they could not see he was doing so.
And of course Joshua and Jesus share a name. And of course these stories are given so we might rest from all the worry and work in the finished work of the Christ. And so we may know he gives rest world without end.
Echoes and Stars 