While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.
Joshua 5:10-12
How do we stay anchored in restful trust, even when the storm rages around us? True rest isn't about inactivity; it's about positioning our hearts in faith. As we slow our pace to match the speed of God's love, we create space to hear His voice and receive Him. At the first ALLIN of the new year, Pastor Amy Perez reminds us that while the command to rest may seem contradictory, God's strategies often defy human logic and yield miraculous results when we trust and obey.
What is the context?
- Sabbath rest mirrors the creation story. Just as God rested on the seventh day, we are called to disengage from work and activity for one day.
- Promised Land rest reflects what we see in Joshua: a land promised to the Israelites that required effort to inhabit.
The four observations about the kind of promised land rest that they were going to enter into…
Position
- The Israelites camped in Gilgal, on the plains of Jericho. "Gilgal" means "circle of stones" or "rolled away," symbolizing that all the weight from their prior generation, slaves in Egypt, was now rolled away. Their position became one of freedom—a freedom to step into something brand new.
- From a New Testament perspective, the empty grave and conquered death mirror our salvation experience. Baptism symbolizes going into death and rising anew. No longer enslaved, no longer bound by death.
- This matters because we must begin by acknowledging that we are set free, not by our own power, but by God’s. We must recognize that we did nothing to roll away the stone. All we did was receive and believe.
Provision
- God continued to feed the Israelites manna day after day, despite their complaints. The manna ceased the moment they ate the first food in the promised land.
- Suddenly, they had to work the land. They had to get their provision from the promise. Standing in the promise wasn’t as easy as before.
- The truth is, as we mature, there comes a point when the manna will stop falling from heaven. This doesn’t mean there’s no provision—it just means a different kind of provision. It requires us to be more active in seeking it.
- Exhaustion and depletion are not who we’re called to be. As we serve, we need to consume the word of God and learn to "eat on the go," remembering that His mercies are new every day.
Pace
- The God who walked in the cool of the day, who journeyed through cities performing miracles, and who walked with His disciples is the same God who walks with you today.
- When we live in a constant rush, we become inaccessible—not only to others but to God. We close ourselves off from being interrupted by Him.
- Thought there are times when we must act quickly, we can't expect God to move the same way. He doesn’t rush as we do, and we must slow down to hear His voice and learn to keep rhythm with Him.
Plan
- Because when you slow down, it makes it a lot easier to hear heavenly strategies.
- God has a lot of strategies that make no sense to me. And unless we slow down to hear them, unless we position our hearts to recognize it's not all about us, then we're gonna continue in the flesh what was begun in the spirit.
- God's strategies can be in equal parts supernatural and super practical.
Additional Resources:
- Hebrews 4:8
- Joshua 5:10
- Galatians 3:1
- John 4:32
- Matthew 11:28-30
- The Three Mile an Hour God by Kosugi Koyama
