'The Lord gave them rest round about.' We believe that the Jewish
nation was under special supernatural guidance, so that national
adherence to the Law was always followed by external prosperity. That
is not, of course, the case with us. But which is the better thing,
'rest round about' or rest within? We have no immunity from toil or
conflict. Seeking God does not cover our heads from the storm of
external calamities, nor arm our hearts against the darts and daggers
of many a pain, anxiety, and care, but disturbance around is a very
small matter if there be a better thing, rest within.
Do you remember who it was that said, 'In the world ye shall have
tribulation ... but in Me ye shall have peace'? Then we have, as it
were, two abodes--one, as far as regards the life of sense, in the
world of sense--another, as far as regards the inmost self, which may,
if we will, be in Christ. A vessel with an outer casing and a layer of
air between it and the inner will keep its contents hot. So we may
have round us the very opposite of repose, and, if God so wills, let
us not kick against His will; we may have conflict and stir and
strife, and yet a better rest than that of my text may be ours. 'Rest
round about' is sometimes good and sometimes bad. It is often bad, for
it is the people that 'have no changes' who most usually 'do not fear
God.' But rest within, that is sure to come when a man has sought with
all his desire for God, whom he has found in all His fullness, is only
good and best of all.
We all know, thank God! in worldly matters and in inferior degree, how
blessed and restful it is when some strong affection is gratified,
some cherished desire fulfilled. Though these satisfactions are not
perpetual, nor perfect, they may teach us what a depth of blessed and
calm repose, incapable of being broken by any storms or by any tasks,
will come to and abide with the man whose deepest love is satisfied in
God, and whose most ardent desires have found more than they sought
for in Him. Be sure of this, dear friends! that if we do thus seek,
and thus find, it is not in the power of anything 'that is at enmity
with joy' utterly to 'abolish or destroy' the quietness of our hearts.
'Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.' They who thus repose
will have peace in their hearts, even whilst tasks and temptations,
changes and sorrows, disturb their outward lives. 'In the world ye
shall have tribulation.' Be it so; it may be borne with submission and
thankfulness if in Christ we have peace.
Thus we may have the peace of God, rest in and from Him, entering into
us, and in due time, by His gracious guidance and help, we shall enter
into eternal rest. Whilst to seek is to find Him, in a very deep and
blessed sense, even in this life; in another aspect all our earthly
life may be regarded as seeking after Him, and the future as the true
finding of Him. That future will bring to those whose hearts have
turned from the shows and vanities of time to God a possession of Him
so much fuller than was experienced here that the lesser discoveries
and enjoyments of Him which are experienced here, scarcely deserve in
comparison to be called by the same name. So my text may be taken, as
in its first part, a description of the blessed life here--'They
sought Him with all their heart'--and in its second, as a shadowy
vision of the yet more blessed life hereafter, 'He was found of them,
and the Lord gave them rest round about,' as well as within, in the
land of peace, where sorrow and sighing, and toil and care, shall pass
from memory; and they that warred against us shall be far away.