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. Genesis 2:2-4
It is clear in scripture that we are to live our lives to the fullest in service to our Lord and fellow man. It is how we fulfill our responsibilities as good ambassadors, stewards and children of God. We are called to run with endurance as one striving to win the prize. Yet God also understands how He designed us and that part of living well is rest, respite and repose. In one sense these are all synonyms as reflected by the definitions of rest that I have found. However, they each carry a slightly different connotation.
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“God, like a father, doesn’t just give advice. He gives himself. He becomes the husband to the grieving widow (Isaiah 54:5). He becomes the comforter to the barren woman (Isaiah 54:1). He becomes the father of the orphaned (Psalm 10:14). He becomes the bridegroom to the single person (Isaiah 62:5). He is the healer to the sick (Exodus 15:26). He is the wonderful counselor to the confused and depressed (Isaiah 9:6). This is what you do when someone you love is in anguish; you respond to the plea of their heart by giving them your heart. If”
Joni Eareckson Tada
When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty
(Zondervan, 1997)
They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:8
Sometimes when our grandsons come to our house, they like to play hide and seek. It is such a different game than when I was a kid. As children, they have not yet learned how many clues they may give away in the process of hiding nor have they learned to listen for clues that I may offer. As an adult, I’ve learned to listen for those clues. Fairly certain of their hiding places, I usually take extra the time to “search” rather than going directly to them which allows for more enjoyment of the game on their part.
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, I believe that we often try to hide from God. Three common reasons we do this are: like Adam and Eve, it may be due to sin; there may be trials in our lives that cause us to doubt God’s goodness and love for us; or it may be as simple as lack of engagement in our spiritual life. Pulling away from God is exactly where Satan wants us as it leaves us open to temptation. Through his lies, he seeks to either turn us from God or at least immobilize us and lose our passion for God and engaging in the work that Lord may have planned for us.
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We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.
“‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’” Ezekiel 37:4-6
Most mornings, the pain in my body wakes me before the alarm goes off. Laying there a bit irritated that my body has deprived me of sleep, the morning inventory and ponderings begin. How much pain is there and is it the kind can it be ignored? How much energy is available and will it improve as I start moving or quickly fade? How angry is my gut and how well will it cooperate with eating throughout the day? What is planned for today and will it have to be adjusted due to the responses to the prior queries? At best, I will encourage my body to get moving and function relatively normally (for me) throughout the day. At worst, I’ll end up more like a slug accomplishing the bare minimum. More often than not, it will be somewhere in the middle of the two. Notice that there is no “This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it”, nor is there a mental or spiritual inventory. In those early moments of the day, it’s usually all about the body. Short sighted, focused and exhausting. I long for days when I awaken refreshed and alive. Whether or not one is ill, this life can be wearying. Trials and illness most certainly sap the strength from us on every level encouraging us to withdraw and become self-focused. However, jobs, family, relationships and social obligations are just as capable of draining us of physical, emotional and spiritual strength. Without attention to our souls, we become like the bones in Ezekiel’s vision: dried up, hopeless and cut off. In those times it’s important to remember who we are, where our strength comes from and where or hope lies.
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For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Romans 8:5-9
When I was in college, I took a chapel class that discussed controversial social issues. Two of those were suicide and euthanasia. Since my time in college and in the context of chronic illness, both of these choices have been gaining acceptance in our culture. The basic premise in their justification is that the person dying is ending their life with greater dignity and grace. To be sure, the aging process and health concerns such as dementia, ALS, Parkinson’s disease, strokes, cancer, etc. often bring on many indignities before finally ending life. However, to take matters into our own hands rather than relying on God’s timing is willful and contrary to God’s precepts. Rather than providing dignified death, it is either giving up or a defiant act in that it denies God’s goodness, wisdom, love and purposes. A death that is truly dignified is much more graceful and determined than suicide or euthanasia.
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Let God’s promises shine on your problems.
Corrie ten Boom
http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/inspiring-quotes/30-inspiring-christian-quotes.html
“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
Just. It’s a very small but significant word. On the one hand it can be used to defend actions as reasonable, proper, righteous, deserved and lawful. On the other, it can be used to express a lack of certainty, low expectation, or a lesser degree than desired. As Christians we often use “just” inappropriately in our discussions with others and in our prayers. The problem is that we often use the stronger version of the word in relationship to ourselves and the weaker version in reference to God. When we do this, we think of ourselves “more highly than we ought to think” and underestimate God.
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Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2
A couple of weeks ago I was traveling and stopped to get gas. The screens on the gas pumps not only provided instructions, but also weather, news and entertainment. As I pumped gas, the screen showed “the word of the day” and displayed the word “pertinacious”. The definition that it provided was “willful” and the example of usage that it gave was “He became pertinacious in his old age.” As I thought about this, I immediately thought about Solomon, Joash and Amaziah. The connection came from a chart of the kings of Judah that I’ve been using to keep them straight. These three are all listed as having done right in their youth and evil in their old age. They started strong but their resolve waned as they aged. As I investigated the meaning of the word further, I found that there are two very different meanings to the word. The one that commonly comes up first is determination or perseverance. However, it is the secondary definition that reflects willfulness.
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“I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.” Psalm 40:8
Sunday morning I was reading Psalm 40 and verse eight jumped out at me. It says: “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.” I had to ask myself if doing God’s will was truly my delight or if I have allowed distractions to keep me from true joy. Not only that, but the word delight has been on my mind since then. It’s not a word that I hear a lot these days. When I looked up the definition, the definitions of both the verb and the known had a modifier. It doesn’t mean to please or pleasure, but it said “to please greatly” or “great pleasure”. Merriam-Webster adds that an archaic definition is “the power of affording pleasure”.
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