Greetings! I’m sure that like me, many of you are counting down the days to Christmas and a well-deserved break with your families!

Each year around this time I like to reflect on the year that’s been and remind myself just how faithful (and good!) God has been to us and what He’s done and continues to do in our schools and in our lives. And what a year we’ve had! In Psalm 116:7, the Psalmist writes

Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.

This year has been a difficult year. I don’t think anyone would disagree! A year that has caused many to lose their peace (rest) being consumed with anxiety, concern and fear. In this verse, the Psalmist tells his soul to return to its rest. This means it (his soul) had experienced rest before. ie. You can’t return to a place you haven’t already been! This place of ‘rest’ is reserved for those who have been justified by faith and therefore have peace with God through Jesus. As Spurgeon once wrote

You, who have not believed in our Lord Jesus Christ, have no rest to which you can return, for you have never found any. May God grant to you the grace to come unto Christ, that you may find rest unto your souls! But we, who believe in Him, do enter into rest.”
— Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Volume 47

As God’s children, whenever we find we have lost our peace or we’ve become troubled with the circumstances and problems of life, we can be encouraged that rest – true rest – is a place we can return to. So how do we do this? In Philippians 4 Paul tells us.

Rejoice in the Lord always. When? ALWAYS!
Be anxious for nothing.
Through prayer and thanksgiving, present our requests to God.

Notice the word “thanksgiving” here. In the Psalm above, the Psalmist firstly tells his soul to return to its rest, then reminds himself that the Lord has been good to him.

As we prepare for the upcoming break, I encourage everyone to return to the rest that is available to all who have been justified by faith and to believe and receive God’s promise to us that we can not only have rest, but experience the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. And most importantly, let’s continue to be thankful, whatever circumstances we might find ourselves in or whatever difficulty we’re facing. Because the truth is that God has been good to us!

David Gillman — CEO Christian Schools Tasmania