If You Find Yourself Still Learning How to Rest
God is faithful here too.
There are moments in the Christian life when everything you are hearing sounds true, and yet nothing inside you feels settled.
You hear that Christ is your life.
You hear that the old life has ended.
You hear that rest is real and available.
And still, you feel tired.
Still unsure.
Still unable to rest the way others seem to describe.
If this is your experience, I want to say something plainly.
Nothing has gone wrong.
God has always worked this way
Scripture shows us that God does not move His people from slavery into rest all at once. He works faithfully, patiently, and decisively, often in ways that cannot be rushed.
Israel did not leave Egypt because they finally felt strong enough. God acted. He broke the power that held them, and He brought them through the Red Sea into freedom. That deliverance was complete, even though much of what followed did not feel settled yet.
In the same way, when you were united with Christ, something decisive happened. You were delivered from the life you once lived in Adam. That was God’s work, not yours.
And yet Scripture is honest that God’s people often take time to learn how to live from what He has already done.
Why striving lingers even after freedom
For many, striving was not just behavior. It was survival. It was how life was managed. How identity was secured. How danger was avoided.
When God begins to reveal that the old life has ended, those habits do not disappear immediately. They simply begin to lose their authority.
That loss of authority can feel disorienting.
You may know that you are free, and yet still feel the pull to manage yourself.
You may believe the truth, and yet feel frustrated that rest does not come easily.
You may long for peace, and yet feel caught between effort and trust.
This does not mean you are resisting God.
It often means you are learning to live from a new source.
Scripture never shames Israel for the wilderness. It shows us what the wilderness reveals. Self-effort cannot produce rest. Striving cannot bring life.
That lesson takes time to settle, not because God is slow, but because our ways of living were learned over many years.
The crossing into rest is God’s work
One of the quiet fears people carry is the fear that rest requires something from them that they do not yet possess.
That they must trust better.
That they must finally let go correctly.
That they must take the right step with enough courage.
But when Israel reached the Jordan, the river did not part because they mastered faith. It parted because God acted again.
Scripture tells us that the waters were stopped far upstream, at a place called Adam. The old source was cut off. The way into rest opened because God removed what stood in the way.
That detail matters.
Rest was not entered because Israel became capable. It was entered because God remained faithful.
The same is true for you.
You are not being asked to produce rest.
You are not being evaluated on how well you trust.
You are not required to cross anything by strength.
The God who brought you out is the God who brings you in.
This place is not failure
If you find yourself weary, frustrated, or unsure, you are not behind. You are not late. You are not failing at the Christian life.
You are learning, often quietly and without fanfare, what it means to live from Christ rather than from yourself.
Much of this learning happens beneath awareness. It cannot be hurried, explained into existence, or achieved by resolve.
God is not standing on the far shore waiting for you to get it right. He is present with you, faithful in ways you may not yet see.
A word of reassurance
If you cannot rest, you do not need to try harder.
If you feel caught between effort and trust, you are not alone.
If the journey feels slower than you expected, God has not lost His way.
The story Scripture tells is not about people who finally learned how to rest correctly. It is about a God who never stopped carrying His people into rest.
And He is no less faithful with you.