Our scripture is Hebrews 4:11, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” That was the ESV; let me read it in the King James as well, “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

So, the words strive and labor are used interchangeably, as are the words disobedience and unbelief. I said before, this is a striking verse. I spoke about striving to enter the rest. Let’s look at the end of the verse.

We need to enter into that place of quiet confidence in the Lord’s power and love toward us because it’s our safe place. If we don’t live in the secret place, dwelling in His bosom, gathered into His arms, we may fall. The verse says that entering into the rest would keep us from falling. The falling is referring to the disobedience, the unbelief.

We talk about believing in Jesus, but many people don’t seem to make the connection that believing in Jesus means obeying Jesus. If you believe in Jesus, you believe you are an overcomer, having overcome the power of sin, and can walk in victory by God’s Spirit in you. Jesus didn’t die so we could sin and go to heaven. He died so that we could be forgiven our past sins and have the power to walk in righteousness.

Belief leads to righteousness. Unbelief leads to disobedience. The Israelites didn’t believe and died in the wilderness. They trusted what they saw and their own understanding, instead of trusting what they knew about God, and His ability and desire to step in and act on their behalf. It led to the Israelites complaining. It led to them refusing to take the good land, the good inheritance promised them. It led to their death. To prevent death, we just need to rest. We just need to believe. We just need to know that the Bible is true, that God is who He says He is.

It’s not our efforts that keep us from falling, that keep us from disobedience. It’s God’s work to keep us from falling. The Psalms speak often of keeping our feet from falling, from slipping. Psalms 56, 18, 66, 94 are some places. We look to Him and He takes care of the rest. He takes care of the rest, and can keep you in the rest He’s provided.