2013-05-31 - Rest
Summer is the season when many people vacation. They seek a little rest and
relaxation. I know that is what I'm looking for when I go on vacation. And
since my vacation is just around the corner, I spent some time thinking about
rest.
Genesis 2:1-3 (NASB)
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Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all
their hosts.
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By the seventh day God completed His work which He had
done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had
done.
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Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because
in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
God sanctified it. Sanctify is a big church word that simply means to set
aside for a special purpose. God set aside the seventh day to rest. God must've
liked the idea because when he went to give the top ten rules to Israel he
included it and even made a big deal of it. For some of the rules he just
had a few words but this one he discussed at length with Moses.
Exodus 20:8-11 (NASB)
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Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
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Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
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but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God;
in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male
or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with
you.
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For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,
the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore
the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
God wanted us to rest but man's not real good about listening to God so over
the years people started adding lots of rules and regulations to this simple
command. Rules don't relax me; they stress me out. And so following rules
bring me no rest. By Jesus' day, legalism had destroyed the rest making it
more work to make sure you avoided work. It just wasn't fun anymore.
Rest is clearly an important activity, but Id argue that in our modern
busy world, we dont do a great job of emphasizing how important it
really is. What about you? Do you take a regular sabbath? What does a day
of rest really look like?
I love to relax when I have time but for me a day of rest often fills up
with lots of busy work and I really dont get much rest. Have you ever
heard someone say, I did so much this weekend that I had to come back
to work or to school just to rest? Thats not real rest.
Luckily, God has an answer.
Matthew 11:28-30 (NASB)
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Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and
I will give you rest.
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Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle
and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke
is easy and My burden is light.
Read this slowly and mull it over as you do.
Come to me all who are weary, tired, and in need of down time.
Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden, burdened, stressed, needing
a break from it all.
If you are tired and stressed come to me. Take my yoke. Do my work.
Whoa! Did you get that If you're sick and tired of your work come to me and
I will give you my work. That is just crazy talk but Jesus likes crazy talk.
He likes to flip things around and make you pause and really dwell on what
he is saying. If you are tired of work, come to me and I will give you my
work. That makes no sense at all but let me share a story from a recent day
of rest.
I was cutting up some trees and my five-year old son wanted to help. He was
struggling with picking up limbs on his own so as I lifted up a large log
I asked him to come help me. Putting all the weight on my shoulders he held
his hand under it and "helped" me with my work. I did all the heavy lifting
but he was happier. He was resting in my work and didn't know it.
Real rest comes from God. In Exodus 33:14, God and Moses are talking when
he says My Presence will go with you, and I will
give you rest. Real rest comes from simply being in God. Moses
still had a lot of work to do but rest was in being in the Lord and the Lord
in him. God still wanted Moses to lead his people thru the desert years and
serve his people and so too Jesus rest includes a yoke. Rest in work.
Rest in God's work.
So how will you rest this summer?
IHFHBOH
Adam
acdum@hotmail.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org
All scripture references from KJV unless otherwise noted
CFD | May 2013
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