No Rest

No intermission—that is what Jeremiah testified after Jerusalem had been destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar. There, on Jerusalem’s ruins, Jeremiah wept because of the sad consequences of sin. He wept especially about the cause of Jerusalem’s destruction, namely, Israel’s sins. No, the prophet Jeremiah did not point fingers to others, but he became the guilty one himself. Therefore, there was no intermission in his weeping.

The word intermission means pause, break, or interruption. So, an intermission is a moment of rest. However, Jeremiah says there is no rest, no intermission for him. Do we understand what that word means? Not one moment of rest in our life, not a single pause from our daily labors, always being chased by our daily labors and many worries. The thought about that is already terrible and makes us even more restless.

No matter how we twist or turn it, we do not know about rest, at least, not about true rest. Sure, by nature, we are rest seekers, but what kind of rest do we seek? In these summer months many seek rest in traveling and being busy with the things of the world, but all these things make a person even more exhausted. Even worse, spiritually we are, by nature, seekers of a deadly rest. We seek a false rest, “Peace, peace; when there is no peace.”

In Adam we have left the Lord in order to never return. As a consequence of our deep fall, true rest disappeared from our heart, and we restlessly are chased by Satan and sin. No rest or peace is found in man who lives without God and Christ. Thus, we all travel for our own account to a never-ending eternity. Sure, by nature, we seek rest, but rest seekers are not the same as God seekers because only in Him we can find true rest.

Maybe you ask, how is that possible? We find true rest not in ourselves but in Christ, who obtained true rest for all His children—in Him, who in the fullness of the time entered the restlessness of this earthly life—in Him, who testified: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” At the end of His life Christ experienced the eternal unrest of being forsaken by His Father on Calvary’s hill.

There are no words to express His eternal love for such a people who deserve an eternal unrest in outer darkness without intermission. He took upon Himself that restlessness without intermission to obtain the rest for His people. He also applies that by canceling the false rest in their heart. By God’s Spirit they are awakened from their deadly rest.

By uncovering light such people learn to see that they miss God and cannot miss Him anymore, and by discovering light they learn to see that this is their own fault.

We have caused this by our sins. With David in Psalm 42, we learn to experience, “O Lord, my God, o’erwhelmed in deep affliction, far from Thy rest, to Thee I lift my soul” (Psalter 115). It is no wonder because our sins are presented in order before us. That should make us weep on the ruins of our life like Jeremiah wept on the ruins of Jerusalem. Without intermission, a godly sincere sorrow is born which worketh repentance, not to be repented of.

Jeremiah cries out, “Mine eye trickleth down.” The tears of heart and eye trickle down because he misses God and cannot miss Him anymore. My friend, has that become your greatest grief already? Then you cannot be comforted with a false rest. Jeremiah says, “Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not.” How could one ever find rest when his case has not been solved, when his sins have not been forgiven, and when he is not reconciled with God?

Man cannot comfort him, and neither can God’s children. Such people are comfortless until the Lord gives rest in their heart, and He will do that because He promised that He will not leave them comfortless. That becomes their longing! Their soul cries out to the living God, “O hearken and answer Thou me, as restless and weary I sigh.” Do we know that by experience?

What a wonder when the Lord opens the eyes of a restless soul for Christ, who obtained this rest. In Him true rest may be seen and tasted. Are we longing already to know Him in a right way? When this rest in Christ is at moments experienced in the heart, the wonder becomes so great— rest in God for such a wretched sinner who sinned it all away. That needs to be experienced!

You might wonder, do they then always have rest? No, on earth there is not a permanent rest; eternal rest is in heaven, for there remains an eternal rest for the people of God. Are we not a stranger of this rest anymore? Or do we still miss that? In eternity there will be eternal unrest or eternal rest. It is one of the two. What will it be for you? Stop and consider this and lay it before the Lord.

If we live and die for own account, we will not enter into His rest. Seek, then, the Lord while He may be found! Blessed are they who in restlessness learn to long for rest in God. They will receive that eternal rest without any pause. There is rest forever obtained by Christ, and He will receive the glory for that, without intermission. Then it becomes true:

Come, thou my soul, relieved from agitation,

Turn to thy rest; the Lord has favored thee.

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