Tag: rest

Rest and Recharge

Today’s reading is Luke 4:31-44.

I have to admit reading the Bible for many years I wondered why Jesus was always instructing people not to tell others about the miracles He performed. This was perplexing to me. In these verses He even rebukes the demons telling them not to tell anyone (Luke 4:41). Wouldn’t he want everyone to know the good news of who He was? Doesn’t He instruct us to tell others at his ascension (Matthew 28:19:20? Sometime in the last few years, I’m not exactly sure how..possibly from watching the Chosen series… it became apparent to me that He needed to taper down too much awareness of what He was doing and what was going on for a period of time. If he didn’t the crowds would become so big and the demands of the people so much he would not have been able to carry out His mission and all He was called and needed to do.

Luke 4:43 reads..

“but He said to them, ‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.’”

The verse before this in Luke 4:42 states people sought him and would have kept him from leaving. Another way to say it, He was being mobbed.

What else did Jesus do to ensure His mission could be carried out? Luke 4:42 also reads, “And when it was the day, he departed and went into a desolate place.”

Many times throughout the Gospel Jesus took time to be alone, rest, and pray to God..including the night before His Crucifixion in the Garden of Gethsemane. He would often take off early in the morning before anyone was up and the disciples wouldn’t know where He was. It’s not like they could just turn location services or Find My Friends on!

Jesus knew that for Him to be His very best and carry out His mission to help everyone who He loved He needed to rest and recharge. He was also following the example of His Heavenly Father who rested on the 7th day when creating the world as well (Genesis 2:2).

How often do we sit in solitude when it’s quiet and no one else is around to think, read the Word, and pray? How often do we take a free day without even our spouse and kids? How often do we take a day to strategically think and plan in our personal life and careers? Most of us don’t need to minimize the crowds to carry out God’s mission for us in our lives. However, there is no question whether we realize it or not, we need to rest, spend time with God alone, pray, think, and plan to be our very best and all God’s called us to be. We all seem to wear our busyness and full calendars like a badge of honor, but if He needed to rest to carry out God the Father’s mission for his life… then I think it is safe to say we do as well.

What do you need to do to create some buffer and recharge time? How much better would you feel throughout your day if you were up even 15 minutes earlier and had time to drink your coffee, read your Bible, and pray alone before anyone was up? Commit to trying it for one week to see the impact. Also, take some time now to block off a day to yourself in the next 30 days. If a day is too much, start with an afternoon. I just heard the quote recently that “an inch of action is better than a mile of intention.” Let us follow the example of Jesus so we can be all God’s called us to be and carry out His mission for our lives. He needed it to carry out His, and we need it too.

Strength

I must be very transparent in that as I’m writing this we are wrapping up what was supposed to be a relaxing weekend getaway with my wife’s family to Grafton, IL and while it was a great time with them..I’m still tired. I’m not refreshed and recharged like I hoped. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very thankful that many of the recent events have not directly affected my family negatively. My prayers go out those who have been directly affected my all the crazy stuff going on in our world. When I say I’m tired…I mean I’m tired of all the sin and evil every day with so many bad things happening which also seems amplified in the news. Yes…we have had conflict since sin came into the world through the Fall and we always will until Jesus returns, but it seems as though the level of divisiveness is extremely high right now. At times I just sigh and long for us to do as Jesus directed us in John 15:12, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

As Jon wrote about last week https://www.biblejournal.net/2020/09/11/200-trillion-decisions/ , we make about 35,000 decisions a day. And while that can be tiring enough, it seems as though every decision we make, or don’t make, is under a magnifying glass as political or social statement these days which there also doesn’t seem to be a perceived difference right now. You are either for something or against it. If you say one thing on one side of a social or political issue..or even don’t say anything at all…you’re labeled an extremist for or against it. Even a decision whether or not to wear a mask, or what’s on the mask, seems to make an unintended statement someone may not agree with. There’s also the whole social media animal which I used to love to keep up with friends and their families. Then, there’s sports and movies. And while I’m not going to say that athletes or entertainers should be silent on issues in our world which they can potentially help make a positive impact where needed, I must admit I miss the days where we could watch a game or movie to get away from the stresses of the world without everything and everyone making a statement on something. In fact, I’m concerned as I write this that I’m going to offend someone by this prior sentence. That they might think this means I don’t care about these issues athletes and entertainers are speaking and acting on and thus I’m making a stance for or against something. Crazy, isn’t it? Please don’t misunderstand and judge me. Again, I’m not. I am just saying again I’m tired…and sports and movies were something to watch and attend as a respite for weariness..a medium to get away so to speak..and to forget about everything else in the world for a couple hours and get re-energized.

Again, I’m very blessed, and this is minor in comparison to the direct challenges others are facing due to the issues we see in the news everyday or just the everyday financial, relationship, and health challenges others are facing to name a few. I’m just being transparent with the fact that I’m feeling drained right now. Author Jon Gordon writes about staying away from energy vampires. I feel like the present times we are in are like one big energy vampire. A weekend getaway with family, scanning social media to see what friends and their families are up to, sports, and movies are not refreshing to me.

That brings me to my personal lesson in reading today’s verses and my assignment to write on which is the Lord being our “strength.” It seems as though He’s speaking to me through this topic that my relationship with Him has an opportunity to grow to look to Him to re-charge and for strength and not to the idols of this world in our everyday lives. This is the ‘what’ so to speak..I need to reflect more on the ‘how’..although their are simple steps like more time in prayer (speaking with Him), His Word (listening to Him), and worship (praising Him for His saving grace on the cross and all He’s done for me).

Please take a few moments to read the below verses and if you are just plain tired like me, reflect on if you need to turn more to your relationship with Him, and not to other idols, for strength.  Pray on how you can do so as well. As Psalm 73:26 says, when He is our strength, He is our portion. He fills us up…forever.

“I love you, O Lord, my strength.”

Psalm 18:1

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to Him.”

Psalm 28:7

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Psalm 46:1

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Psalm 73:26

 

Resting Place

Lost and nowhere to be found in the middle of the woods. You are all alone, miles and miles away from any communication to the outside world. As the hour draws near, it starts to get dark outside, and it starts to rain. You find yourself searching for shelter to get out of the rain and rest for the night. Finally, you find a cave, a resting place.

This short story is an analogy for how we walk through life. Humans walk around looking for something significant. Everybody wants to be seen as valuable in society. People attempt to do this through their work, families, health, achievements, etc. It is exhausting, to see how much weight is put on finding value in life. Everybody wanders around to find something that will put their minds and hearts at peace.

From the time of the Fall till today, God recognizes that sense of belonging and value that individuals seek. Humans were always supposed to live with God in the garden until Adam and Eve sinned against God. They are left with a void inside themselves because of sin. People are left leading a life without a shepherd that they need (Jeremiah 50:6). Now, everybody attempts to fill that void with material goods, achievements, families, relationships, school, advancements, etc. People are running themselves exhausted because they are not rooted in the Lord.

What happens when people get to this point of exhaustion?

What does God do to help with this?

Why is being rooted in the Lord do for us?

Back to the story told from earlier, you find yourself lost, stranded, and stuck in the rain in the middle of nowhere…you are to that point of exhaustion and need a resting place. This is what happens in life, and how people find themselves in life. They get to a point where they can’t handle it anymore, and they want to give up or find some type of answer for why everything is falling apart in their world.

God knows that everyone can’t do this alone, and that is why He wants us to see Him as our resting place. Psalm 62:5-7 says, “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge”. When we are to that point of exhaustion, to the point of giving up, God gives us that cave every time. He always provides a resting place in Him.

Throughout all of the Gospels, Jesus tells all the people, to allow Him to take their burdens and rest in Him (Matthew 11:29). Jesus came to give us rest from all of our labors. He came, so that way, the burden of sin would no longer leaving us to feel lost and broken.

The longing and value that everybody is attempting to find on their own are found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul says, ” Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come”. Everything that you are searching for is in Christ Jesus. He is the resting place that we are all longing for. He provides that cave for us every time we need it!

The Sabbath

Matthew 12

In Matthew 12, Jesus tackles both the Pharisees misunderstanding of the law and the Sabbath.

Keeping the Sabbath holy was one of the Jewish laws that was taken very seriously. And an easy target for the Pharisees to use against Jesus, as He was performing miracles on the Sabbath. Read through this chapter – do you wonder if Jesus had any sarcasm in his tone? Or were His responses simple and straightforward?

John MacArthur delivered a sermon in 1986 that has stuck with me the past 20 years since I first read the transcript. The focus of the sermon is making decisions when things may be gray. In the intro he shares a humorous story from his youth:

There are people who think that if you do anything on Sunday other than sit and read the Bible, you have entered into sin.  When I was a little guy growing up, I can remember when you were not allowed to do anything on Sunday that even remotely resembled recreation.  We came home in our Little Lord Fauntleroy suits, with the little stiff collar, and a little tie, and sat on the couch all day.  Couldn’t read the funny papers, couldn’t read the sports page, couldn’t look at television, couldn’t go out in the yard and play catch, couldn’t take a walk.  We sat.  The only sin we could commit, and we could commit that sin all we wanted, was the sin of gluttony. We could literally gorge ourselves on Sunday.  And, of course, most of the women spent all morning cooking up this massive meal by which we sinned all afternoon, but couldn’t – but couldn’t run it off.  And so we were stuck with the consequence of our evil.  But that sin was tolerable.  

When we read Matthew 12 (or even John MacArthur’s experience) we may scratch our heads and think “come on, Pharisees, WAKE UP”!  You’re missing the spirit of the law by focusing on the letter of the law! Jesus came to fulfill the law – what is so hard about this to understand!

But when we start to examine our own hearts and even the modern church, we can still find ourselves in a place of judgement and missing the intent of God’s ways. As much as we want to be everything but a Pharisee, our perfection-seeking, works-based theologies can lead us to the heart of a Pharisee.

This past spring I was in the thick of a marathon training cycle, filled with Sunday morning long runs. I love my time on the road – time to think, pray, meditate, sing, focus, oh…and RUN! At the same time, these runs left Sunday mornings a scramble between getting my family to church on time, not being exhausted the rest of the day, etc. While I love the run, it did make my Sundays “fuller” than I would prefer. I mean, nothing says rest like a 20 miler before 9am church! In this same cycle, my training “rest days” of no activity for muscle recovery were Fridays. For some reason, Fridays were anything but restful. While I wouldn’t be pounding the pavement, the days were full of other responsibilities that were anything but restful.

I left the training cycle with an idea.

As much as we try to protect our Sundays as a Sabbath and day to rest in the Lord, oftentimes it’s just NOT. Between the rush to church, serving others at church, prep for the week ahead, and other commitments, it’s never a true and full day of Sabbathing.

Idea: What if our family had one day set aside as a full and complete true Sabbath day.  No commitments, school, sports, activities, training. No place to go, no chores, no laundry, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Not even church. Technology free. Meals prepped, clothes laid out, ready to Sabbath. Just people spending time with the Lord, doing whatever the day brought with time praying, listening for promptings from the Holy Spirit, dreaming, sharing. Doesn’t that sound so wonderful!? We have a Saturday selected this fall and we are going to make it happen!! I don’t want to wait for a vacation away for a true full day of resting in the Lord.

Do you have any ideas on creating a Sabbath experience in your world?  Here are some additional passages about the Sabbath:

Genesis 2:2-3, Exodus 20:8-11, Leviticus 23:3, Mark 2:27, Hebrews 4:9, Romans 14:5, Colossians 2:16-17

 

Love Well

Today, we are reading Romans 13 together.  This chapter is relatively short – only 14 verses – but it is full and rich in content.  I’d like to focus on the second half of the chapter, in which Paul encourages us to love God, each other, and ourselves well.

Romans 13:8 reads, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”  When I first read this, I was confused by the idea that we owe each other our love.  After I thought about it a bit more, though, I remembered a conversation in which   Jesus answers a scribe’s question regarding which commandment is most important.  Jesus says,  “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel:  The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this:  ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no other commandment greater than these.”  (Mark 12:30-31) To love, therefore – God first, and then our neighbor – is the greatest commandment, and it is by loving that we fulfill the law.

But doesn’t the fact that Jesus died on the cross in our place mean that we are no longer slaves to the law?  Yes:  Jesus’ death on the cross put an end to the ritual sacrifices that we read about in the Old Testament.  However, Paul is writing AFTER Jesus’ death on the cross, and Paul tells us to continue to love each other.  Why?  We are to love each other BECAUSE Christ sacrificed Himself for us.

Whew!

But wait – there’s more.  Did you see the end of the commandment in Mark 12:31?  We are to love our neighbor as ourselves (emphasis mine).  That might be the most difficult part of all, right?  I know that I am harder on myself every single day than I am on those around me.  So how can we practice loving ourselves well?  I’m convinced that one of the best ways we can do this is to cultivate rest.  We are a culture that extols busyness – we often wear our busy days as a badge of achievement or of honor.

Instead of perpetuating the culture of busyness, I’d like to encourage you to practice pausing each day.  If you’ve never done this before, start small.  Just a few minutes, five or ten – go for a slow walk outside, read a few pages of a book, or simply sit and be still.  I know that this can be hard.  It is hard for me to remember to even take that pause – and then it can be difficult to actually be still, or to read, or to walk slowly in the middle of a busy day.  But I can also tell you from personal experience that it helps.  Traditionally, Sunday afternoons have been my rest times.  But I rarely took the time to rest at all during the week, at least until it was time to go to sleep.  I’m finding, though, that taking even one short pause during the day resets my brain and renews me, allowing me to finish the rest of the day in a more peaceful state of mind.  It helps to slow the tide of busy back to a more manageable, healthy pace.  When we walk through life unrushed and unhurried, we have more margin to love those around us well.

Will you try this with me?

Enter into His rest

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. – Hebrews 4:9-11

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. James 1:13-15

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:14-18

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:1-4

Suggestions for prayer: Ask the LORD to help you not to want, to go last, to let your desires go. Ask the LORD to make His will your will, on earth as it is in heaven.

For further study: Make an exercise of Psalm 23:1. Study your response of resting from self and the peace of following Christ. Go an entire day without wanting. Do not want food or drink, let go of taking hold and positioning to have anything of this world. Instead let the LORD provide what you need. Be patient and meek, succeeding your will to others. First go an entire day. Then go another. Let God lead you and go in peace. 

Today’s reading: 2 Kings 22; Hebrews 4; Joel 1; Psalms 140–141

Do you need rest?

Notifications of new emails and text messages rolling in adding to the backlog of messages that demand a response, a calendar full of business and social events, supporting people who need me, keeping existing customers satisfied while exploring new opportunities to generate income, investing in the spiritual and professional lives of others, a heavy heart for those who are hurting, broken and lost. Managing a household, seeking to maintain a healthy relationship with my God, my wife, and my family, and pursuing personal fitness goals. That was a brain dump of my life. Does yours sound similar?

I labor, I am heavy laden… I NEED REST!

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

How can Jesus give us rest? What does he mean by rest?

A recent burden in my life triggered the need for me to make a choice regarding where I’m going to put my trust, worry, and hope. The problem didn’t actually seem insurmountable for me to tackle myself, but I knew from experience that my way would likely lead to frustration, anxiety, and attempts at knocking on many closed doors before finding the open door – it would have worn me out. About a month ago I said to Amy, “we are going to trust God in this like never before; this problem is now his, not ours… let’s see what he does and look back on this day in awe.” The focus here is not on the end result; God is not a genie granting us everything we want. What I’ve encountered in this journey thus far is peace and rest. As soon as I start to worry, I think about His promises and greatness. Through this journey I’ve encountered:

  • Friends who don’t even know of this burden have offered assistance, from seemingly out of nowhere (although I KNOW where!)
  • Conversations with new acquaintances have given me peace and great insight.
  • Opportunities for me to share this burden and my story on trusting God with those who do not yet proclaim Jesus as their savior.
  • Inspiration from Bible Journal; specifically Jillian’s post: The Big Ask
  • A greater closeness with God as I read scriptures and prayer.

Have I stumbled? Yes. There have been times when I’ve let myself worry and have attempted to take control because I was impatient. The result: stress, anxiety, lack of sleep, and agitation.

I am writing all of this to you today before the “end result” with the hope that our readers can see that this life is not about immediate resolutions to problems. This is about the journey. I have no idea what God has in store, but I know that he is faithful, he is with us and he will never leave us. This leaves me humbled, thankful, and yes, it gives me rest.

Joshua 3; Psalms 126–128; Isaiah 63; Matthew 11

Obedient To Our Beliefs

Ladder

Numbers 5; Psalm 39; Song of Solomon 3; Hebrews 3

We lead extraordinarily busy lives. Between the pressures and problems of our work lives and the turmoil of training children to have healthy lives, we find ourselves chasing one thing after another, never stopping. If you are like me, there is a still small voice in your heart that is crying out for more. So what do we do? We choose more. We think that working harder, maybe earning that next promotion, will finally silence that nagging voice. We transfer the belief of more to our kids, assuming that my happiness comes from more, theirs does too. We add new activities and focus attempt them more intensely. The result: more pressure, more turmoil and more problems.  Too often these become manifested in depression, substance abuse and a myriad of illnesses. Exactly the opposite of what our heart is crying out for and definitely not the life that God promises us. He is calling us to one simple thing, obedience.

I don’t think of myself as disobedient. Maybe that is why I find myself annoyed when I read Biblical truths about disobedience. In fact, Instead of translating disobedience truthfully, I reinterpret it with positive words like progressive and enlightened.   These twists of truth allow me to avoid guilt while fully embracing, even amplifying my individuality. My prayers are also shaped by this belief. I ask God to help me in the places I am falling short. They sound like, “God give me that promotion,” or, “please help Junior play well today. He deserves to win.” All seems well until God doesn’t perform for us. When we fail to get recognized at work or our kids fall into trouble, we accuse Him of not providing and our restlessness accelerates. James 4:3 confirms this, “you ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” Today, in Hebrews 3, we read a related comment. It says, “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” (Hebrews 3:15).

If we want to have rest as God promises throughout Scripture, we must look toward obedience. This means that I can no longer avoid the hard work of transformation. The first step of obedience is listening.  When I pause and listen for God, I realize that the still small voice in my heart is not asking for more. Instead, recognizing that this is the still small voice of God, I hear Him calling me, calling me to obedience. Waiting in silence, He convicts me that my past re-interpretations are nothing more than a hard heart.   This hardness gives way to misbelief in my individuality and self-importance.  According to the Bible, they are more than misbelief, they are unbelief  (Hebrews 3:19).  My unanswered prayers, therefore, are not the result of God’s punishment or wrath, but my unbelief!  OUCH!

There is hope. When we turn our cry of desperation toward Jesus, stopping to listen, he responds. Thankfully, he does not ask for more than that.  When we do, He assures us of the rest we are looking for. (Matthew 11:28-29)

I found myself captured by the picture I added to this post.  Our stories parallel the boy’s burning of the ladder rungs.  He believes that the fire will keep him alive while we believe that “more” will lead to rest. His comfort is temporary, short-lived even.  What about ours?  Proverbs 14:12 says it clearly.  “There is a way that seems right to a man that leads to death.”  

Thanks to Pawel Kuczynski for creating a fantastic illustration of how our true beliefs shape our actions.