Find Rest

Daniel 2:7-9 Once more they replied, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” 8 Then the king answered, “I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: 9 If you do not tell me the dream, there is just one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change. So then, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can interpret it for me.”
 
KING Nebuchadnezzar has set a standard. Yes, it is a cruel, senseless rule; yet, it is the way the king develops to resolve his troubled mind. This harsh rule shows how deeply the dream disturbed him. The greater the agitation, the more rash and harsh are one’s methods to find some peace. Apparently, he does not trust his advisers. Where will he find rest for his soul?
    God tells us where: Psalms 62:5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. 7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
    Two lessons come to mind here. God will disturb us to draw us near to him. If he has a specific purpose for our lives, he puts that purpose on our heart. He wants us to actively seek his will. You can rest in God’s care when you have submitted to his purpose for your life. Second, God will cause us to become restless in our sin. True rest comes in our confession and repentance. Again, this is a humble heart before God’s will to listen and learn his ways. If you are restless about something in your life, go to your Lord and seek his answers.
    Through a dream the Lord has disturbed Nebuchadnezzar. Out of his extreme agitation, the king will come to see the LORD’s power over his life and the future of his country. Nebuchadnezzar will begin to realize his soul’s rest does not come from one’s personal power, demands and commands. Such rest is submitting to God’s command over your soul.
 
Acts 17:26 “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’”