Resting Like God Rests

The sabbath is meant to be a day of rest. In Isaiah 58:13 the sabbath is called God’s holy day. He tells us to call it a delight. How exactly do we do that? Later towards the end of this verse He says if we honor Him by by refraining from saying and doing our our things, then (verse 14) we will be delighting in God, and He will cause us to ride on the high places and give us the heritage of Jacob (which is a good thing). So these are great promises, but I still am trying to really understand the rest part. Maybe it can be found in what God did on the first sabbath.

The words here in Genesis 2:1-3 have interesting shades of meaning. The word for work here implies purpose or mission, as if we were sent or meant to do something. By implication this is our work. The word for rest means to repose or decline. I think of it to be like when I am working on something and finish it, I lean back and look at it. It is interesting that worship is almost an exact opposite to this. Worship means to incline or lean in or toward.

It would seem the sabbath is the day we lean back from our normal routine, work, and things we enjoy. This causes us to delight in the sabbath. We lean in toward God, we worship Him and rejoice, resetting the clock for yet another week. God is so good, is He not?

Prayer
Father, thank You so much for Your constancy toward us. Thank You for keeping us safe. Thank You for thinking of us. Please look favorably upon all Your children today, and give them peace. In Jesus name. Amen.

Professor Caterpillar

Springtime is filled with life. This morning I imagined all of the caterpillars that will become beautiful butterflies soon. They go from toil, to rest, to transformed creatures of beauty. With this being the sabbath, it made me wonder why we rest. I believe I found a part of the answer in Isaiah.

In Isaiah 58 the largest portion of the chapter is dedicated to fasting. As someone not unfamiliar with fasting, I enjoy this chapter very much. The point that I have always gotten from this passage until today is that people tend to fast to get things from God, almost like punctuation to a point they are making in and with their life. What God intended was for us to fast to focus on others, and to stop focusing on ourselves and what we think. There are great blessings promised to those that fast in this manner. Healing, sustenance, happiness – all of what we would consider the good things in life are promised to us by God if we make our fasts His and not focus on what we think. What is interesting is what appears after this toward the end of the chapter in verses 13-14 where He speaks about the sabbath.

Isaiah 58:13-14 talks about keeping the sabbath, the day of rest to God. He admonishes us not to do our own thing but to keep the sabbath according to how God has commanded it. If we do, there is great blessing. It was not until this morning that I understood the parallel between fasting and keeping the sabbath that was being made here. It is that same transition. More importantly, I think the point is it is a day where stop our thoughts and doing our own thing, and focus on God and His ways. We reset the clock to zero. We recharge the batteries with God stuff so we can experience the God stuff in our lives.

Isaiah 55:10-11 God compares the words from His mouth to the rain and snow. The rain and snow don’t come down from the heavens and just bounce back up (my paraphrase – sounds like a song), they water the plants that enrich the whole earth before they return to the heavens. He then says His words out of His mouth are just like that – they go out and accomplish the task to which He sent them before they return to Him. In Isaiah 58:14 God ends with the mouth of the Lord has spoken it (the things about the sabbath). So what we have here is a weekly cycle where we receive the words God spoke into us on the sabbath. If we keep the sabbath, if we rest and consider Him, He will manifest those blessings in us that He promised, and those words return to Him accomplished. And guess what? The cycle repeats itself! What a great plan, don’t you think?!

All we have to do is be as smart as the caterpillar…

Prayer
Father, thank You for this day to rest and think about You and the works of Your hands. It is good to shut out the daily routine and to just spend time with You. I very much enjoy Your plan to help us. I ask that You reach out and touch the lives of Your people, and call them to Your rest once again. Call them to receive Your blessing again. Let it begin a revival in our hearts Father. Let those around us see and feel Your loving-kindness, both around us and through us. Let the land be restored. In Jesus name. Amen.

Kicking Back With The Holy Spirit

As I thought about the sabbath this morning, I felt an urge to aggressively pursue peace and happiness. Reading the scriptures the thought came to me as we are moving towards Pentecost that it would be fun to just hang out in peace and happiness with the Holy Spirit. It was then that I realized that I may not really know how to do that.

Scriptures paint a picture of God watching over us. We know that the same Spirit that raised our Messiah from the dead dwells in us. We know that God has made many promises to us in the scripture that if we serve Him, He has our back. He wants to provide for us and our families food, shelter, health and healing, and every good thing. In the earth today He does this, I think, through the working of the Holy Spirit. Let me be clear that there is only one God, yet I do believe the Holy Spirit is God as is the Father and the Son. How does that all work? I don’t know fully, because I am not God, and I don’t need to know because God is God and He does fine at that. What I do want to know and experience more is God’s Holy Spirit working in my life. I especially want that today on the sabbath, a day meant for peace and rest. The Holy Spirit is powerful enough to be at peace with me and yet battle those that would try to attack me on the sabbath – He’s just that awesome! As Psalm 120 says, when I speak, I am for peace, but they are for war. Let them fight my big Friend and see how that works out for them!

Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit, and be with us today. Give us rest. Give us peace. Make our world a place where we can rest with You and have our needs met for food, and clothing, and shelter, and health, and healing, and every good thing, just as the scriptures say. We exalt and praise You for this. In Jesus name. Amen.

Quieting the Mind

Why is it so hard to rest sometimes? This morning as I awoke I thought to myself, “Ah yes! The sabbath! A day to rest!” Then came the thought monster. What about what you left undone from yesterday? Don’t forget to get the milk and bread at the store. What is my time schedule for today? Maybe if I juggle these things around… I finally got up and began to read the scriptures, and I asked God why I struggled to rest. He had me read a great scripture, Psalm 103.

There is a great message hear about rest. In the first two verses of Psalm 103, God tells us not to worry about the bad guys – they will soon be eliminated. Later in verse 13 God says He laughs at the wicked when they plot against the just. Why? Because He is God, and there is no way He will let the wicked win over the just in the end.

In verses 3 and 4 God encourages us to trust Him. Dwell in and enjoy the land. Let yourself exist on his faithfulness – He will not let us down. He then promises that if we make Him our delight, He will give us the desires of our heart. The balance of this Psalm continues to build on how God raises us up, providing for our needs, while at the same time He destroys the wicked.

How does this relate to rest? We need to remember who we serve – the living God that provides our every need. When I began to really contemplate that He wants to give me the desires of my heart, and that He wants me to trust trust Him, the thoughts just melted away. When they tried to creep in, I just said no to them, and chose instead to think on God and His rest. It worked! I just need to let go to rest.

Prayer
Father, Thank You so much for considering my every need, and the needs of my family. You have given us the power over the wicked through trust in You. Please help us to push back in our minds those things that try to get us to fret. Helps us to dwell in the land, to possess it and know that You will be faithful to give us the desires of our hearts. Thank You. In Jesus name. Amen.

Another day of rest is upon us. Our God was wise to make certain that we took time away from the daily grind of life to simply rest and spend time with Him, our families, and our fellow believers. This morning as I was reading Psalm 111 and 112 I was greatly encouraged. In 112 it says that God blesses the house of those that serve Him. Their descendants live long on the earth. They lend to the poor, there is food in their house, and they are not afraid for their heart is set on God. The wicked see this and are troubled. In 111 it says that His covenant is forever, that He has sent redemption to His people. God’s works stand forever; they are holy and just. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and those that do His commandments have a good understanding. God’s praise will endure forever.

As I consider these wonderful blessings, I am blessed to realize that one of God’s commandments is to rest, to keep His sabbath. If we do, we have good understanding. If we desire to do something that is eternal, we can praise our God. Can it be that our singing, our praises to God, never stop rining in the heavens? So it would seem. Praise God!

Prayer
Father, I praise and exalt You as the Most High God. Above You there is no other. Thank You for this, yet another day of rest. Thank You for the amazing blessings You send. I praise You that we have an abundance and can give to the poor. I praise You that we can have an impact for good in the earth. I praise You for this rest. In Jesus name. Amen.

Rest. What a great word, a great concept, and an even greater experience! So, if God created everything, and He is the all powerful King, why did He need to rest? Well, who said He NEEDED to rest? It just said He did rest. But why? Because He is a really good Dad! He wanted to set an example for us to keep forever. Why? Because we ARE NOT all powerful, get weary, are fragile… we need rest. So, for this, He gave us the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. That is today, and I am soooo loving it! And how do I know I should still do it (other than the ten commandments which are not suggestions)? Paul said in Hebrews 4:9 “There remains therefore a rest to the people of God (notice the word “to” and not “for”)”. In the Greek, this word rest is “certain sabbath”, which is used to depict the seventh day of the week sabbath, or Saturday. Whatever day you choose to rest, however, God used the word “to” because it is a commandment – He cares for us and wants us to rest! What a great Dad!

Prayer
Father, thank you so much for giving us rest. On this Sabbath day I ask that you touch the lives of Your people everywhere and let them experience you more fully. Let them catch their breath, recover from any infirmities, and experience a day of wholeness with You. In Jesus name, Amen!