Rest & Encouragement
We are going into this week, being encouraged to rest. If we are all just an accident of evolution, if we are just amoebas that a million years ago climbed out of the primordial slime and mutated, then we would have no direction as how to order our lives. But we do have hope and a future, because we are no accident of nature, and God has prepared everything for us; to work and to rest.
Most everyone knows that you must work to live, but few understand the purpose of rest. In Genesis 2:1-3, we see for the first-time that resting is mentioned,
“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.
“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.
“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 in His eternal plan was to let man, beast and the land rest.
To be able to rest is an essential part of the operation of our human body. God, by resting Himself, who does not need to rest, paves the way for us to understand the entire operation of the cosmos, and the animal kingdom here on planet earth. Let’s look at a series of scriptures about resting.
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of Yahweh 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. For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11
God establishes here that everyone and every beast of burden is to rest one day each week. He gives a specific day, the Sabbath day. The word Sabbath, comes from the Hebrew word “shabbath”, which means; to repose, to desist from exertion.
“For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to Yahweh; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.” Exodus 31:15-17
Notice that God takes the violation of the Sabbath command so literally, that He deems it a criminal offense, punishable by death. Now, why did He do that? Because apart from the spiritual implications, resting one day in seven has physical and mental benefits, that will extend your life. But more on that later.
Again, as we read the Ten Commandments, resting is commandment #4, right after the first three commands about honoring Yahweh and His name.
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Exodus 20:8
If placement and order of the Ten Commandments means anything, then this command ranks extremely high in God’s eyes.
Our prayer for today;
Father, since this revelation of the Sabbath rest ranks high with You, it will now rank high with me. Teach me how and when to rest. Give me the faith, and teach me to put Sabbath resting into practice, in Jesus’ name, amen!
Add a prayer request or Submit a prayer request (click here)
_______________________________________________________
Leave a Reply