Rest in the Rescue

I knelt at the altar, with hammer and stone

Trying to carve out a god of my own

Varnishing virtues, scrubbing the stains

Thinking my effort would yield great gain

Affixing my rules on the wall of my mind

Searching for peace that I just couldn't find

But the idol I built with the effort of Me

Was only a shadow of what I could be 

(Chorus)

You can’t make a christ of your holiness

You can’t earn what He died to bless

Lay down the chisel, step back from the frame

You cannot co-opt the power of His name

His Grace is the ocean, your striving is sand

Rest in the rescue you don’t understand 

It’s a heavy religion of striving and bows

Measuring every step, counting the vows

But we have no holiness to call our own

Except the righteousness found in Christ alone

Our perfection's a phantom when we look at the cross

Where our debt was nailed up and counted as loss

Why try to embellish what was given for free?

Lay down your burden at Calvary’s tree.

(Chorus)

(Bridge)

So breathe out the pretense, and breathe in the rest

The work is completed, the truth is confessed

Not built by your merit, nor your sacrifice

But held by a mercy that's wholly of Christ

Let all of your striving collapse in the dust

In the quiet surrender of placing your trust 

(Chorus) 

Rest in the rescue...Breathe out the strife 

It is done. It is finished. Now He is our life!

July 14, 2026

After J. C. Ryle

Anthony Foster