“So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”
– Hebrews 4:9-11
Like so many others, I saw Charlie Kirk’s assassination in high-resolution video the day it happened. And though I had been wrestling with my belief in God for many years, witnessing such abject evil that afternoon led me to pray as I had never prayed before, as though there was a two-edged sword on fire in my heart.
In the months following Kirk’s murder, I have found myself continuing to pray while reading the Bible, pierced by a zeal I have never known, finding passages that keep thundering like lightning strikes in the mind.
Anyone who reads this weekly column already knows, for better or worse, the fruit of my recent study, though there is much I still do not know and much I have still left undone. I am filled with hope knowing I am not alone in reacting this way to Kirk’s assassination. I, like so many others in these restless days, have turned to Christ Jesus as our Priest, our Prophet, and our King.
Yet, I also know that there are those who have taken different paths in the aftermath of Kirk’s martyrdom – those who don’t recognize his martyrdom in the first place, those who thought Kirk had it coming, those who uncharitably see Kirk as a symbol of hatred – and especially those who dove headlong, not into Scripture, but into the online Tower of Babel full of restless conspiracies and cocksure conjecture.
Not believing the official story presented by the authorities after years of distrust, so many people have understandably come to view the circumstances of Kirk’s assassination suspiciously, creating a feeding frenzy of alternative theories, sensationalist questioning, accusations, and intrigue – with lots and lots of money (as well as Kirk’s legacy) at stake.
As all this has unfolded over the last few months, I’ve attempted to ignore the noise, with varying degrees of success. Some days I still get sucked down some rabbit hole that, without fail, leaves me feeling frustrated, forlorn, angry, sad, lonely or stressed. Cortisol high and dopamine spent, a common curse of being too online.
Only when reading Scripture (with my phone off) do I ever truly feel at rest. Studying the Bible anew, I’ve often felt the Word more living and active – more good, beautiful, and true – than anything I might find in my social media feeds or on a streaming platform.
In fact, reading Scripture has put the psychodrama and dehumanizing spectacle of online discourse (especially the restless noise surrounding Kirk) into stark perspective.
Just as it ever was, so it remains today – men are promised paradise, yet so many fall away, too distracted by toil and trouble day after restless day. Serpentine questions whisper “only trust your suspicions,” only to lead so many astray, as trust in nothing but suspicion permits pride to rebel day after restless day.
Day after restless day, we have caught power lying one too many times. Day after restless day, we have responded by helplessly learning to trust our own powerless lies. Day after restless day, we have contended with currents full of babble and sin, while listening to fools pretend that they can solidly sow the wind. Day after restless day, we vie for a trust now long lost, blindly pulling down gatekeepers without weighing the cost, as we all reap the whirlwind of our loss.
We are too trusting of our suspicions, too swift in our accusations, too flippant and too proud in our judgments – and much too distracted and bewildered by the churn of the digital deluge to connect it to something real or enduring.
In this way, we have failed to find rest, day after restless day.
Yet, I still pray we have not already hardened our hearts – and that we may yet, through faithful obedience and the ceasing of our labors, enter into God’s rest – bearing in mind that we all stand naked before God, the thoughts and intentions of our hearts laid bare.
Indeed, is it not providential that the last thing Charlie Kirk ever wrote about is honoring God’s rest?
Kirk’s new posthumously published book is called “Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life.”
Somehow, Kirk prefigured the perfect response to the restless noise still surrounding his own public death – and though I have yet to read his final message to the world, I suspect I’ve somehow already started to follow his advice before ever hearing it in his own words.
After all, three months after the assassination of Kirk pierced my heart, I’m only now just getting to the Letter to the Hebrews – which has so far taught me that to enter into God’s rest means much more than just honoring the weekly sabbath and turning off the noise – though honoring the sabbath weekly may very well soften our restless hearts to hear his voice and obey the living Word of God, as it says in Hebrews 4:11-13:
Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and is currently the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL, M-F 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances, as well as any feedback, please email [email protected]. Follow him on X @TheJoeyClark or watch the radio show livestream.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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