I know where you can find that all elusive rest we have all been looking for. And today, I’m going to remind you.
Last week, we looked at How important is it to rest? By attaching ourselves to Jesus, we not only find rest, but renewal for our weary souls. This week, we are going to look at specific ways to rest in God. It is a command we have forgotten, but a message we must remember.
Genesis 2:2-3 says, “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”
If rest is good enough for God, it should be good enough for us. Even God rested and He sanctified the day, making it holy.
We act like we are too busy to rest or that if we do, it might be viewed as weakness. However, rest is exactly what God commands us to do. Because God knows we need it.
God rested, shouldn’t we?
Exodus 20:8 says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”
Deuteronomy 5:12 reads, “Observe the Sabbath by keeping it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you.”
This is not some sage advice you get to decide if you should do or not. This is part of the Ten Commandments. By not resting, we are being disobedient to God.
God has work for us to do. Not just our 9 to 5 jobs, but kingdom work. We cannot do what God needs us to do if we are not willing to follow His commands. We have to stop, cease working, refresh and renew. We have to learn to rest in God, so that we can do the work He has called us to do.
Rest in the only One who can give us true rest.
Dr. Paul Burns writes in his book, The Sabbath Challenge; Learning to Rest in a World that Never Sleeps, “When I began to examine my own life, it became clear something essential was missing: rest. Not just worldly rest, which is a combination of crashing on the couch in front of the TV with a cell phone in my hands or escaping to the beach, but a rest created by God out of God’s very being and given to all creatures: Sabbath.”
Dr. Burns goes on to say, “Sabbath has been retired as a relic of a seemingly more legalistic age. We live in an age of freedom, or so we think. Everybody has access to everything all the time, and we have the right to it all. But I wonder if we have given up one of the most precious gifts the Creator has endowed humanity with, something we desperately need. We are starving our souls of rest. We have been created in the image of a God who produces, yes, but who also rests.”
If we want to find rest for our souls, we have to start with Sabbath.
So what is Sabbath and what does it mean to rest?
The definition of Sabbath is ‘a time of rest.” Last week, we learned the definition of rest is; “to cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength.”
The problem is we don’t rest. If we do not rest, we will not refresh and therefore we will never recover.
Sabbath is a way to honor God by resting. We have to stop and rest in order to refresh and renew. Because God created us, He knows He had to command us to do it, or we never would. Sabbath should be as normal as laying down at night to sleep.
We need a Sabbath’s rest for our tired and weary souls. Not just once in a while, but on a regular basis. Every six days in fact, as God instructed. We need to honor God by resting in Him. God, in turn, blesses us for our obedience by multiplying our rest and maybe even multiplying our time.
We can do more with less. As we rest in God, God rests in us. That rest goes further than anything else. Isn’t that so God!
Let us pray;
God of the Sabbath, thank you for instructing us to rest. Thank you for showing us your perfect way. Teach us how to rest in You, God. Help us to remember the Sabbath, not only because you commanded us to but because we need it. Show us how to keep it holy by resting in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
P.S. Leave a comment below and tell me how you plan to rest in God this week. Forward this message to a friend or share on Facebook and tag me in it.
