Rest is not an option
June 16, 2018
Exodus 20: 10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor they maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in the six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it’
Exodus 31:12 – 17 (v17) It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed’
There is a very good reason for rest and quiet. It is laced into the creation arrangement and direction. God made this clear in Genesis 1. You and I know God does not need to sleep. And yet, after every generation of creation, (And each day was a generation, not a 24 hour day. The answer is in Genesis 2:4 – ‘These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and heavens’), the record is that God took a break. He paused.
Then when He gave His core laws in the Ten Commandments, he added to the nights of rest, a whole day dedicated to rest. And to make sure that he was not misunderstood, He declared it a holy day. A day set apart for rest, recreation, rejuvenation.
Then, as if nights, and a day out of the week are not enough, He called for Sabbath years. Every seventh year, take a year of rest. Then He called for the Jubilee year. After seven times of seven years adding up to 49 years, the 50th year is a year of Jubilee. A year not just for physical rest, but emotional rest, financial rest, and utter rest. All debts were to be forgiven. Mortgages and pledges were to be cancelled. All slaves returned to freedom. People and families reunited, people restored to dignity. What a loving God!
Are you resting? Are you incorporating halts and pauses and holidays into your activity schedules? You should. Because, it is a holy commandment.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for the wisdom of the Sabbath rest. It teaches me not to be addicted to work and to acquisition. It teaches me to learn to wait on You. Help me to learn to rest, Lord. To give up things and activities, that I may get to know You.