When I read Elie Wiesel’s book Night, I knew it would be a story that would forever stay with me. It’s a harrowing memoir that recounts the author’s experience during the Holocaust, following his journey from his peaceful hometown of Sighet, Romania to the horrific realities of Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. He vividly illustrates the depths of human depravity and cruelty as he describes the brutal loss of his family, his faith, and his innocence, and conveys his struggle for survival amidst unimaginable suffering. There was no rest for his soul, nor did he think there ever would be again.
I pondered his story for quite some time, thinking about the many themes in Night. Themes about family, faith, loss and death. Themes about anger and hatred, against man and against God. Themes about losing hope and desiring vengeance. It was a sober reminder that in the blink of an eye everything can change, and when it does, where do we find rest for our soul?
Come to Me
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. - Matthew 11:28-29
Over the years, when people have asked me to describe the benefit I notice after spending time in prayer and right away I say, “Peace. Rest. Shalom.” It’s not just a feeling I experience after praying, but a supernatural alignment of my heart that prepares me to face the day’s events with the peace of Christ. My soul is at rest.
Come to Me! Every day, the Lord gives us an invitation to enter His rest, a rest that the world cannot give. In fact, we are called to give diligence to “entering” that rest (Hebrews 4:11). Why? Because it’s a ‘living rest,’ a ‘submissive rest.’ A rest that says, “I trust You. Thy will be done.” We are not meant to drift through our Christian life carelessly or carnally. Instead, we should diligently strive to enter God’s rest by resisting temptation, protecting and applying His word, submitting to the Holy Spirit and casting our cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7). We are called to endure and overcome when the trials of this life hit. It does not make them any less hard, but we can find rest for our souls even in the struggle and anguish.
Jesus is called the Prince of Peace, or Prince of Shalom. Shalom means peace, wholeness, soundness, safety, well-being…for our body, soul and spirit. He is the only source of true peace and rest, but to experience that, you must respond to His invitation and Come to Him. If not, you will never have true rest or true peace. So, strive to enter into a deep, abiding relationship with Christ, which is our only foundation for readiness.
The Same Yesterday, Today and Forever
After the Holocaust, in Elie Wiesel’s memoirs, he describes how he came to Brooklyn, sometime in the early ’60s, in order to make the acquaintance of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
The Rebbe had read some of my works in French, and asked me to explain why I was angry with God. ‘Because I loved Him too much,’ I replied. ‘And now?’ he asked. ‘Now too. And because I love Him, I am angry with Him.’ The Rebbe disagreed: ‘To love God is to accept that you do not understand Him.’ I asked whether one could love God without having faith. He told me faith had to precede all the rest. ‘Rebbe,’ I asked, ‘how can you believe in God after Auschwitz?’ He looked at me in silence for a long moment, his hands resting on the table. Then he replied, in a soft, barely audible voice, ‘How can you not believe in God after Auschwitz?’
Shalom,
Carole
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