Is Rest Just a Dream?
In this meditation, best-selling author Paul David Tripp invites you into his personal reflections on rest. He showcases how God in his grace offers us the rest we long for, and will one day restore the true, everlasting rest that has been ruined by sin.
Rest
Rest:
a faint dream for many,
a treasured commodity
in a fallen world,
a thing so needed
yet so easily interrupted.
The garden was a place of rest—
no violence in creation,
no weed or thorn,
no cleft between God and man,
no reason to hide,
no cause for fear,
no need unmet,
no grief to face.
Bright sun,
pure love,
unfettered peace,
unstained beauty,
man and God,
worship and love.
But, a voice
interrupted the rest:
strategies of death,
words of deceit,
actions of rebellion,
fingers of blame,
expulsion from the garden,
judgment and death,
rest interrupted,
rest shattered.
So we wait for the Lord.
His grace strengthens,
his presence comforts,
his promises assure,
his power activates, and
his rule guarantees that someday rest—
real rest,
pure rest,
eternal rest—
will reign once more.
No violence in creation,
no weed or thorn,
no cleft between God and man,
no reason to hide,
no cause for fear,
no need unmet,
no grief to face
between God and man.
Yes, rest, true rest,
will live again
and last forever.
So we wait for the Lord
to restore us to that place.
Bright Son,
pure love,
unfettered peace,
unstained beauty,
God and man,
together forever.
Until that day,
with hearts
that are strong
and hope
that is undimmed,
and joy
that embraces the future,
we wait for the Lord.
My Heart Cries Out
Paul David Tripp
Paul David Tripp shares his celebrations, disappointments, cries for help, confessions, and confusions in the form of 120 poems written as he experienced God’s grace in various seasons of his life.
Read
- Matthew 11:28
- Hebrews 4:1–13
To Consider:
- Do you have regular time set aside for rest? If not, consider when you might be able to work times of rest into your schedule.
- Consider the various ways the fall has made true rest difficult, both generally for mankind and personally for yourself.
This article is adapted from My Heart Cries Out: Gospel Meditations for Everyday Life by Paul David Tripp.
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