Remember—the secret is never to forget your hold on the past—your memories—an’ through thinkin’ of them to save your mind an’ apply it to all that faces you out there … if you fight an’ think together like a man meanin’ to repent of his sin—somewhere out there in the loneliness an’ silence you will find God!”
–Zane Grey (Wanderer of the Wasteland)
“Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.’”
–Joshua 1:13 (NKJV)
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It has been said that history is what links the past with the present and the present with the future. It is vital that we remember the past. Memories, good and bad, are important for they helped mold us. We are to learn from the past, the lessons are there to make us a better person. However, there are two things to remember about the past. First, we should learn from the lessons. Memories of the past do not do us any good if we don’t learn from them. Secondly, remember the past, learn from the past, but do not live in the past. Yesterday is dead and gone, remember, learn and go forward.
Ravi Zacharias was talking with a student (must have been a Millennial) who said that there is nothing worse than nostalgia. To which Zacharias answered, “except amnesia.” One cannot progress without using the past as stepping stones. I know there are people who do not have any pictures from the past, those who do not care for the old photos, or want to listen to the old stories. These are doomed to live a discontented life.
One other thing–to remember how the Lord worked in the past gives us hope for today and for tomorrow. It is the faithfulness of God and how He fulfills His promises that gives us the assurance for today, and the “blessed hope” that He will return. God is not slack in fulfilling His promises. Yea and amen!
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How does one obtain rest? Rest only comes by completely work, fulfilling a task, doing one’s duty. God rested on the seventh day, not the fifth. His work was complete, as far as creation went, before He rested. Rest when the job is done, not before or in the midst. How many times have I seen work only partially complete because the person stopped to rest before completion.
“The gospel does not command us to do anything in order to obtain life, but it bids us live by that which another has done: and the knowledge of its life-giving truth is not labor but rest, rest of the soul, rest that is the root of all true labor; for in receiving Christ we do not work in order to rest, but we rest in order to work.”
–Horatius Bonar
Why is rest needed? Why, dummy, for us to work! We rest at the end of the day to rejuvenate the body, calm the mind so that tomorrow we can continue on with our duties and responsibilities. Rest comes after a hard day’s work simply in order for us to be ready and refreshed to work tomorrow.
Rest is important, but we need to know when and why. We also know that we need our strength renewed, physical, mental, and spiritual. We need to learn how to rest in Him.