HIS Rest (1)

I'm sitting outside my church waiting for men's prayer to start. The wind is blowing and cars are zooming by on the interstate and side streets. I am listening to music on my iPhone, "Majesty" by Delirious?.
In the span of about 3-5 seconds, it became totally quiet.  I was so shocked by this that I took off my headphones and looked around. Kind of felt like 'the calm before the storm'. Yet, no storm came, just a peace that surpassed my understanding.  A peace I did not deserve because of my sinful nature.  Immediately two passages of scripture came to mind. One is from the gospel of Mark 4:41, when Jesus was in the boat sleeping and awakens to his disciples fearful shouting. Jesus got up, rebuked the storm and the wind and the waves obeyed. The second verse is the one I felt more drawn to use and it is found in 3rd chapter of Hebrews.
There are times I will search the scriptures for passages that encourages and up lifts me. So few times, I look for verses that speak to "my dark side", hoping for relief from the weight of the sting my guilt and shame.  I tell myself that is the old me and he has been ex-sponged. But God's word is not to be handled deceitfully. While reading from Hebrews I was hard pressed NOT to feel the Spirit 's presence.
The phrase that kept pricking my heart was, harden not your heart. No pun intended. I found myself experiencing such hardness as I go throughout my days.  Days where my actions, thoughts and deeds do little to belay my faith in the ONE TRUE GOD.  My face blanched.
Yet, I could not deny what the WORD was telling me. How could I change? Nothing seemed to work.  Then HE told me this. "Hold fast to my confidence in HIM, which I had from the beginning."
My grasp of reality was fading fast into an abyss the seemed to be bottomless.  An intervention was needed. And God did. To my remembrance came the rebellion of the nation of Israel in the wilderness during their period of wandering. I thanked God because in that span of 5 seconds, HE showed me what I can have as a result of being in HIM--rest, or what I can lose because of my rebellion towards HIM--unrest.  God's word does encourage but more importantly it corrects AND commands obedience.