Dave’s Monday Blast – February 27, 2017
It is reported that Americans work more than anyone in the industrialized world. We take less vacation, work longer days, and retire later. It’s no wonder that, according to Forbes, 52.3 percent of us are unhappy at work. I am not proclaiming that I am unhappy at work, but I will affirm that I do feel tired and anxious at times over work related issues.
What does the Bible teach us about rest? The concept appears early in His narrative: “On the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done” (Genesis 2:2). Why would an omnipotent (all powerful) God need to rest?
The answer is found in the word “rested”, which translates the Hebrew term from which we get “Sabbath.” Thus we read: “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation” (v.3). God rested as an example for those made in His image. (That would be us and…we are not omnipotent.) If He would observe a Sabbath, so must we.
His example later became our command: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). This commandment is so important that the text explaining it (vs. 9-11) comprises the longest commentary on any of the Ten Commandments. Here is one reason rest is so important: it is God’s way of empowering us to serve Him. If the church would change the culture, we must first be changed by Christ. The equation is simple: less rest = less service. And it is here that we face two temptations:
INTENTIONAL men can see these coming a mile away!
- Work for God before we rest with Him. The psalmist warns us: “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil: for He gives to His beloved sleep”(Psalm 127:2). Human words cannot change human hearts. We can do nothing significant for God unless we are empowered by God!
- Rest, but not in Christ.Time off work is not sufficient here…we need time spent with Jesus. Our Lord calls us to “be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).Both imperatives are essential. Scripture is clear: “In quietness and trust shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15). Both commitments are needed.
As the saying goes, “If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy”. That’s because he knows that the more we work in our strength and the less we rest in Christ, the less we threaten him. He wants us to see resting in Jesus as optional when God sees it as imperative. Does that sound familiar to any of you?
Next week…some ideas on how we rest in Christ from the Denison Forum!
