Exodus 20:8-11Amplified Bible
8 “Remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to God). 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath [a day of rest dedicated] to the Lord your God; on that day you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock or the temporary resident (foreigner) who stays within your [city] gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy [that is, set it apart for His purposes].
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Just look up at the stars and think about our Creator who knows each and every one of us by name and how much more He knows ME and knows YOU by name, knows EXACTLY what situation we are facing. Our way is not hidden from God.
Just as an entire body of any of the world’s ocean cannot be seen in a bay, or when looked at from a horizon, there is a vastness to God that cannot even be seen in the incarnation of Jesus. He was limited in time and space, but not God.
God is still ever alert, seated on his throne, and we can trust in His sovereignty.
He does not slumber, nor does He sleep, He will always act at the proper time.
Such a magnificent view of God is essential for great hope and great energy.
Humanity’s physical and mental fatigue have a deeper cause in a tired spirit.
Frustrations and dashed hopes mean we need to lift our eyes unto the Hills and the Heavens and change our focus to an everlasting God who never grows tired.
He gifts, He gives, His strength to the weary, increases the power of the weak.
Sometimes we must rest and sometimes we must reset ourselves, so we have the strength, alertness to lift up our heads unto the hills to see our Salvation.
We must mentally and physically “take a deep breath or two” wait upon and wait for the Lord to intervene, then He raises us up as on the wings of an eagle again and we can continue effortlessly propelled by the spirit of the living God.
Eagles will lock their wings in a storm and allow the strong winds to lift them and they soar above the storm. That is exactly what God will do for us when we “lock our wings,” rest and reset, simply trust him during our “busy” of living.
God made the Eagle ….
God made You ….
God made Me ….
God made My Wife
God gave me My Wife to love, cherish, care for “as unto the Lord, my God!”
Sometimes we just need to rest, reset and redeem the time God is gifted to us.
We have a Covenant Obligation to Remember the Sabbath and Keep it Holy.
But we cannot do that if we try too hard to be “perpetual motion” Christians, loving and serving the Lord our God and our neighbors in His Neighborhood.
The Great Commandment is to not just Love God and our Neighbors with all of our might, all of our hearts and souls and minds – but to LOVE OURSELVES too in the same zealous manner we love and serve the One God who is our Salvation.
So, after 295 consecutive days of studying, praying writing these devotions as my act of obedience to my Creator and my Redeemer, it is time to rest and reset.
My wife and I have not had a time and season to be “set apart, to spend with our God,” any vacation, since the Pandemic began and two plus years prior to that.
So, we will be taking the next two weeks or so to rest, refresh our love for each other and God and reset, redeem our time with our Savior upon the High Seas.
Exodus 20:8-11Amplified Bible
8 “Remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to God). 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath [a day of rest dedicated] to the Lord your God; on that day you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock or the temporary resident (foreigner) who stays within your [city] gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy [that is, set it apart for His purposes].
Our reading from the Hebrew Testament today states that “in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth … but he rested on the seventh day.”
The ambition and creativity we bring to our love of God and our labors in God’s Neighborhood is a reflection of our Creator’s. love and labors on our behalf.
It’s part of how we live out our covenant obligations, reflect his image and a big part of how we “tirelessly” try to minister, “tirelessly” serve as HIS witnesses.
God also rested on the seventh day, however, and he calls us to do the same.
For us, good work hinges on good rest.
Without rest, our love, our labors, our work in Ministry and Mission slows.
That is why, from time to time, Holy Spirit “hits our “rest and reset” buttons.
A divine reminder: Our obedience to our Covenant Obligation to Ministry and Mission, our discipline of a ‘regular rest and reset’ becomes our witness in our fast-paced world, especially when that time is focused on enjoying our Creator.
It speaks of God’s love to command what’s good for us.
Our zealous, over-zealous, attention to our (over) ambitious, ambitions would risk hindering, distract us from him and drive us into the ground if we let them.
How will you live out your Covenant Obligation to “rest and reset and redeem?”
How will you rest and reset and redeem your time this week and this weekend?
For the sake of good work later, let’s rest.
For the sake of good works of Ministry and Mission later, please rest and reset.
For the sake of our own SHALOM’s, please ‘rest, reset and redeem’ God’s time.
For the sake of sanity, let’s rest. For the sake of glory to God in regular worship and fellowship, let’s rest, reset. God blesses those who “work hard” at resting.
Let’s trust him to establish our work, give rest to our hearts, reset to our souls.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 90Amplified Bible
Book Four
God’s Eternity and Man’s Transitoriness.
A Prayer of Moses the man of God.
90 Lord, You have been our dwelling place [our refuge, our sanctuary, our stability] in all generations.
2
Before the mountains were born
Or before You had given birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are [the eternal] God.
3
You turn man back to dust,
And say, “Return [to the earth], O children of [mortal] men!”
4
For a [a]thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
Or as a watch in the night.
5
You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep [forgotten as soon as they are gone];
In the morning they are like grass which grows anew—
6
In the morning it flourishes and springs up;
In the evening it wilts and withers away.
7
For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been terrified.
8
You have placed our wickedness before you,
Our secret sins [which we tried to conceal, You have placed] in the [revealing] light of Your presence.
9
For all our days pass away in Your wrath;
We have finished our years like a whispered sigh.
10
The days of our life are [b]seventy years—
Or even, if because of strength, eighty years;
Yet their pride [in additional years] is only labor and sorrow,
For it is soon gone and we fly away.
11
Who understands the power of Your anger? [Who connects this brevity of life among us with Your judgment of sin?]
And Your wrath, [who connects it] with the [reverent] fear that is due You?
12
So teach us to number our days,
That we may cultivate and bring to You a heart of wisdom.
13
Turn, O Lord [from Your fierce anger]; how long will it be?
Be compassionate toward Your servants—revoke Your sentence.
14
O satisfy us with Your lovingkindness in the morning [now, before we grow older],
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15
Make us glad in proportion to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have suffered evil.
16
Let Your work [the signs of Your power] be revealed to Your servants
And Your [glorious] majesty to their children.
17
And let the [gracious] favor of the Lord our God be on us;
Confirm for us the work of our hands—
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Gloria! Gloria! Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen!
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 