~ written by Connie Dunmyer
Did you have a water bed in the 80s? We did - in the 80s and 90s in fact. And there are a lot of benefits to resting on water.
God calls us to “rest” some 300 times in His Word. Hebrews 4 speaks of rest 9 times just in that single chapter. In fact, verse 11 cautions us as to its very importance:
11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. ~ Hebrews 4:11
The KJV version offers what I consider an even stronger admonition using a word that seems contradictory . . . labour.
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
What’s more, the reason to rest seems all the more important as we read the second half of that sentence: “so that no one will perish”, or “lest any man fall”.
Seems pretty important.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says that He will actually give us rest.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” ~ Matthew 11:28-30
My efforts to “enter His rest” are not so much work as the word labour suggests. Then again, perhaps I am being reminded that it's sometimes harder to trust and do nothing, than to work myself into a frazzle. But Jesus is saying since it is a “gift” from His very hand, our only “job”, our only way to receive it is to:
- Come.
- Walk WITH Jesus, not ahead or behind or away.
- Learn from Him.
I suppose as a human being, I would rather work or do something to deserve rest. There is, after all, a true sense of accomplishment and rest after completing a task. But true rest for the weary and burdened, can only come from humbling ourselves, and accepting it AS a gift.
So if I am not resting, does that mean I have spurned the gift Jesus is giving me? Have I turned up my nose at it like a child turns their nose up at brussel sprouts? In my lack of rest, am I telling Jesus “That’s a fine gift for others without my problems…” – or worse “Your gift of rest is not enough…”?
Hmmmm.
True confession: I cannot swim. My dad tried to teach me when I was around 5 years old by having me leap toward him in the water, further and further, until at some point I would find myself “swimming” or at least “floating”. A proven technique to be sure – but it did not work on me. One time I sank like a rock. It felt like an interminable amount of time before he reached down and picked me up. I was fine. But that was it for me. In later years, during summer camps, coaches would try to teach me – again, the whole “leaping forward” approach. I finally found my salvation was to “bury myself” from view in the middle of a large group of campers, and gradually sneak out of the water.
So it will come as some surprise that I describe my view of “resting” in the Lord as “floating on water”.
In the Bible, water often represents salvation, including cleansing. That’s why water is used in baptism… symbolizing the death to our old life and salvation into our newly cleansed life.
In John 4:10-14 Jesus refers to Himself as Living Water. In John 3:5 Jesus says unless we are born of water and Spirit, we cannot enter His kingdom.
So consider water. Think of yourself as floating on a calm lake. Arms outstretched, eyes closed, ears partially submerged so that you can’t really hear anything either. Sun on your face. Peace. Rest. Floating to the will of the water.
If I move to my own will, or fight against the water, I begin to sink. If I tense up and think the water will not hold me, I begin to sink.
I read a Facebook meme this past week that struck me in ways I haven’t fully processed yet. It’s about Noah and the Ark. Here is part of it:
The most terrifying detail about Noah's Ark isn't the size of the flood. It is the design of the boat. If you look closely at the blueprints God gave Noah in Genesis 6, He was extremely specific. He gave the exact length, width, and height. He specified the type of wood and the pitch to seal it.
But God left out one crucial component. There was no steering wheel, no sail, and worse still, there was no engine. Think about how scary that is.
Noah was building a massive vessel to survive a global storm, but he had zero control over it, or over where it went. He couldn't steer it away from rocks. He couldn't turn it into the waves. He couldn't aim for dry land. He was completely at the mercy of the water.
The Ark was not designed for navigation; just for floating. Noah’s job was to be the passenger, not the Captain. God was the Captain.
It will come as no surprise that I have been dealing with some stress in my life, in search of answers. But God is calling me to float –
- to rest –
- not to steer –
- but to release to Him ALL the control.
God is calling me to “make every effort”, to “labour”, to let go of every natural, physical, mental, & emotional instinct and inclination of working things out – and to instead fearlessly float in the salvation He has provided – to enter HIM, His rest, His gift.
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© 2026: Connie F. Dunmyer, All Rights Reserved.