Are You at Rest in the Midst of the Birth Pangs?

Genesis 2:2-3 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Over the past week, the world has experienced some intense birth pangs. If you’ve been reading Worthy News over the past week, it's been a busy week.

It seems as if the world is on the brink of going over the edge!

Nevertheless, even in this climate of anxiety, we are preparing to enter into Shabbat (the Hebrew word for Sabbath) this afternoon. And as we do, we remember again, the deep lesson of God's entering into His rest following the six creation days.

After working for six days -- He entered into Shabbat. The word Shabbat comes from the Hebrew verb "shavat", which literally means "to cease". Shabbat implies that we need to stop working -- stop trying -- stop doing...simply, to cease from our own work. We need to simply let go, and let God! In a way, it's a different kind of work.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews puts it this way: "Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." [Hebrews 4:11] So, this is a "work" of faith, where we are no longer working, but trusting God to accomplish the work He has begun and is perfectly able to complete!

This Shabbat, if you dealing with a fear of the future, rest in the fact that YOUR future is already secure in the finished work of Messiah! You can trust Him, in faith, knowing that not a single hair of your head can fall to the ground without Him allowing it!

Enjoy your Shabbat tonight and embrace the profound lesson of the Sabbath – let go, and let God! Remember that the only real rest from anxiety, worry, and fear … is found in HIM – Yeshua, the Lord of Shabbat!

Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.

How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.

[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]

There is something deeply instructive in the restraint of the Lord. When the servants recognize the problem in the field, their instinct is immediate action. They want to fix it, remove it, clean it up. But the Lord responds in a way that challenges human urgency. He tells them to wait.

There is a deeper layer in this parable that moves beyond simply identifying the difference between wheat and tares. Yeshua (Jesus) is not only revealing that the tare looks like wheat — He is warning that what it produces has the power to affect those who partake of it. The issue is not just imitation; it is ingestion. It is not only what is growing in the field, but what is being received into the heart.

With so much disinformation and so many voices speaking into our lives, people often ask for my thoughts on who to trust and what to believe. In light of that, I believe it’s time to step into a deeper kind of discernment — becoming what I would call a fruit inspector. This series is born out of that burden: to learn how to recognize the difference between the wheat and the tares.

The conquest of the land did not happen in a single moment — it unfolded over years of battles, endurance, and sustained faith. What began at the Jordan required perseverance through opposition, setbacks, and continued trust in God. City by city and territory by territory, Israel advanced, not by one decisive act alone, but through a journey of ongoing reliance on the Lord.

Jericho stood as the first and most formidable barrier in the land of promise. Its walls were thick, its defenses strong, and its reputation intimidating. From a natural perspective, it was unconquerable. Israel had just entered the land, and immediately, they were confronted with a fortress that could not be overcome by conventional means.

After crossing the Jordan and being consecrated at Gilgal, Israel did not immediately march into battle. Before Jericho, before strategy, before conquest, God brought them back to worship — they kept the Passover. In the very land of promise, they paused to remember the blood. This reveals the order of God: before you fight for what He has promised, you remember what He has already done. Before inheritance is possessed, redemption is honored. The same God who brought them out of Egypt by the blood of the lamb was now bringing them into the land by His faithfulness, and worship anchored this transition.

There is something deeply intentional in God’s instruction concerning the lamb. He does not tell Israel to take a lamb at the last moment — He commands them to choose it on the 10th day of Nisan, set it apart, and live with it until the 14th day. This was not random timing; it was divine design.