I have hesitated to start this part of the “being the light” series because we have been not so good at it this summer/spring. The third part of this series is rest. I never really found this aspect important before because I always thought God wanted us to work for him instead of resting. God gave us a model in the Bible. He created the world in six days and the seventh he took to rest. I believe he wants us to work for six days with all our hearts and then rest on the seventh by worshiping him.
Sabbath Rest
I believe we should find one day a week to enter into a sabbath rest. We are finite human beings and we think that we can push our bodies and our minds to maximum capacity to keep up with the world. We think that we need all seven precious days of the week for progress and we are fooling ourselves. What we need to do is work wholeheartedly for the Lord six days and set apart the seventh to rest in Him, delight in Him, and fully acknowledge that we need Him!
Observing a Sabbath day of rest is putting the responsibility in the proper place. Everything that we have and everything that we are able to do is of God. When we don’t slow down and rest and bask in God’s glory and reset our minds from wordly views, we put all the responsibility on ourselves. We think that we are God and we can conquer anything. This is simply untrue! Apart from God we can do no good thing (John 15:5)!
“He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:30
When we come to God knowing that He is all powerful and we are mere human beings, we are in the proper posture to truly worship Him. Having a day set aside to fully delight in God and acknowledge our humanity is a great form of worship.
Our family’s Sabbath rest has looked like spending time together and worshiping God. We try to sing some hymns, read the Bible together, and pray together. We also do family activities for the majority of the day that we don’t always allow ourselves time to do during a busy week. We will do puzzles with the kids, play Legos, read a good book, or even take a nap! These are all luxuries that we won’t slow down to do during a busy week. In the summer, we have been finding a state park and going on hikes on Sunday afternoons. It is so refreshing to get out into the outdoors and spend time as a family enjoying God’s artwork together. I would highly recommend that you find a day (it doesn’t have to be Sunday) and spent a Sabbath as a family. It is a very refreshing way to worship God.
Resting in God
The other form of rest is resting in God’s promises. All too often we think that everything is up to us. It is very sinful to assume that we are in charge of our lives and we have the power to change them. God promises that he will never leave us for forsake us (Deuteronomy 3:16). When we rest in God and His promises, we can have peace in our lives knowing that our infiinitely powerful God is taking care of us and we are not in charge.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Dependence
The last way of finding rest in God is depending on Him to take care of us. Observing the Sabbath is all about letting God know that we are not in control of our lives and we know that He is. We need to live our lives being dependent on God and not trying to gain control of our own life situations.
“If dependence on God is the objective, then our weakness becomes an advantage.” – J.D. Grear
I love that quote! Dependence on God is the goal and He can use our weakness to accomplish anything that He wants. I want to live my life with my hands open waiting for what God has for me instead of thinking I know what is best and trying to manipulate and control trying to get my own way. I want to REST in God and his promises for my life! I want to have a peaceful life trusting God to take care of me instead of a stressful life trying to get what I want for myself.
My prayer is that you will draw nearer to God by abiding, surrendering, and resting in Him. I pray that you will enter into a deep dependence on God and He will use you for His kingdom work!
“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize, for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14
Press on towards the prize, friends!