The Believers 

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another everyday, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3: 12 to 19) 

God commanded Moses to build the tabernacle so that He could live with Israelites. By living with God, Israelites could enter His rest while Moses was leading them out of Egypt to enter Canaan, the Promised land of milk and honey. In order to do so, God not only gave them His laws to follow to be righteous but also performed numerous miracles to provide all of their needs and safety. Yet, Israelites didn't seem to be moved. They continuously tested and provoked God because they didn't believe and follow God wholly. In the end, only Joshua and Caleb could enter Canaan as God had sworn below. 

For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the people of Israel from going into the land that the Lord had given them. And the Lord's anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying, ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me, none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord.’ And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. (Numbers 32: 9 to 13) 

The same thing happened to us. God wants to build His holy temple through us so that He could rest in us for us to enter His rest too. However, we felt that we may have some rest sometimes but not always. We believe that we are saved by Jesus Christ as our savior. Yet, we still felt stressed, frustrated, disappointed, saddened, offended, etc. That's because even though we may not test or provoke God like Israelites in the wilderness, we still live under our own knowledge of good and evil, the sin. Just like those Israelites, the sin caused us to value our own flesh judgement more than God's will. Even though we still believe in God, the rebelling heart caused us stress and struggles. The Bible described it as below. 

For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it-though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. (Second Corinthian 7: 8 to 11) 

As matter of fact, it's a good sign as described by Paul. This is the so-called growing pain. To enhance our faith, this is a necessary process. The faith couldn't come from the flesh, not from ourselves, nor from any creatures but God. Our flesh will tell us to rely on our own judgement, the deceitful knowledge of the good and evil. To react according to what we saw, what we heard, and what we learned. The faith will tell us not to rely on ourselves but on the will of God. Since we don't know enough about ourselves and God, there are bound to be lots of struggles. If we are not saved, then we won't have that kind of struggle. If we do, then it proves that we are truly saved.  This proves that we are transforming from sin, the knowledge of good and evil, to faith, the Spirit of God. 

However, we don't have to go through the process alone. Other than the Holy Spirit, the writer told us to exhort one another daily. Just like bricks on a wall, we need to be bound closely. So, we need to keep a close relationship among us and intercede in prayer for each other. If we believe in that and put in our daily practice then we will all enter the godly rest as promised by God. Emmanuel.