The Established Path of Discipleship

“So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Heb. 4:9).

This poem by Christina Rossetti reminds me of the rest that God will provide us.

Uphill

Does the road wind uphill all the way?

Yes, to the very end.

Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?

From morn to night, my friend.

But is there for the night a resting-place?

A roof for when the slow, dark hours begin.

May not the darkness hide it from my face?

You cannot miss that inn.

Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?

Those who have gone before.

Then must I know, or call when just in sight?

They will not keep you waiting at that door.

Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?

Of labour you shall find the sum.

Will there be beds for me and all who seek?

Yea, beds for all who come.

Rossetti’s poem resonates with our weary hearts that labor under the journey through life, often filled with dark hours. The hope for us who know Christ is that there is a resting place. Jesus invites us to this rest when he says, “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). We experience a measure of this rest as we travel through the world, but we long for that rest to come.

Our future rest comes without fear because we “cannot miss that inn.” We cannot miss seeing the place that Christ has prepared for us (John 14:2-3). The darkness cannot hide the place of ineffable light. We shall see others who have gone before us (1 Thess. 4:13-14), those “other wayfarers” who traveled through the night. Christ will not keep us waiting at the door.

For our “comfort, travel-sore and weak” will be a King who wipes our tear-stained cheeks and removes all sources of pain (Rev. 21:3-4). There will be room for we travelers seeking this rest, for we are “The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD” (Isa. 62:12). We weary seekers are called “Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.” Yet this rest will not be a bed for slumber. No, we will stand in the company of a great and beautiful multitude before the most beautiful: the Lamb who was slain (Rev. 7:9). And the Lamb will say to us, “Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). There is rest for us who travel uphill.