Finding Rest in God - Pt 2 Devo

 April 10th, 2016  

Devotional

“Finding Rest in God: The Sabbath Part 2” - Deut 5: 12-15

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Monday: “Observe” - Deut 5: 12-15

Practicing Sabbath is a spiritual discipline. Just like other disciplines - prayer, worship, fasting, etc. - that feed our soul it takes a commitment to engage in Sabbath. In today’s scripture God is emphasizing to the people the need for physical rest. To cease. To just be. 

Marva Dawn, an author who has written extensively on the subject of Sabbath, composed  a hymn in 1999 that you may know “Come Away from Rush and Hurry.” The first line of the hymn states “Come away from rush and hurry to the stillness of God’s peace.” We are in need of physical rest to find peace. Study after study find that most Americans do not get enough rest at night in the form of sleep or weekly rest in the form of ceasing. The results have been poor health and increased stress. God is trying to offer us a discipline that both provides for our needs and helps us grow closer to the Divine. 

How does our society’s Sabbath keeping (or lack there of) express our relationship to the created world?

Were you to keep Sabbath in your life what physical activities would you need to rest from?

Prayer: God when we actually pause and examine ourselves we admit that we need to rest. To simply be. We have lived at such a hurried pace for so long that we seem to have forgotten that we need sleep, exercise, water, and good food for our well-being. We also recognize that we need Sabbath rest. Allow us to find that rest in you, O Lord. Amen. 

Tuesday: “Chasing after the Wind” - Ecc. 4: 6

While we are slow to admit it, when it comes down to it, too much of our lives are about chasing after the wind. We work for a paycheck to buy things to work for a paycheck. Is that living? Some people say that they can truly live when they are retired, but is that what God has intended? 

God invites us to a better way through the gift of Sabbath, offering us: a day of rest, a cooperation of lineation, a sign of covenant, and a sign of hope. How many of us are in need of such things today instead of toiling? 

How do Sabbath and tranquility go hand in hand?

Prayer: Lord, we need a little hope and a lot of rest. We need the silence of the Sabbath, the ceasing of all that we toil after, in order to be fully present to you. Allow our hearts to open up this day under the shadow of your presence and bloom to the fullness of life. Amen. 

Wednesday: “ Restore My Soul” - Psalm 23

Our souls are in need of a little restoration. In today’s scripture the Psalmist writes that God invites or makes him lie down in green pastures - to cease in order to find restoration.

We have seen through our time of study that God literally “ceased” on the seventh day. We all have things in our life we need to cease from in order to find restoration - be it expectations, guilt, being constantly available, working, productivity, accomplishments, etc. For too many of us we don’t cease because we feel like we need to define our own meaning, and in doing so we are wounding our soul by not finding our identity in our Creator. We find restoration on the Sabbath when we are remember that we are profoundly loved by God so we can go into our week and share that love with others. 

What does restoration mean in your life?

How might ceasing from work one day a week reshape your work and your attitudes on the other six days?

Prayer: Lord, we are weary. Our souls are heavy ladened. We admit that we love this particular Psalm when it speaks about restoring our souls, but we find it very hard to claim as a truth in our own lives. Help us live into this scripture today, God, letting you lead us and allowing you to restore us, fully. Amen. 

Thursday: “Prayer” - Isaiah 56: 6-7

Sabbath and prayer go hand in hand. The prophet Isaiah speaks of those who celebrate Sabbath fully being taken into the holy place of prayer. Where is your place of prayer? Quite literally to pray is to come and rest and to lay our burdens at the feet of God. We cannot wait until everything is done to rest and come to God in an attitude of prayer. We need, instead, to stop what we are doing and simply come before God, whether we are ready or done with our to-do lists or not.

Think of a body of muddy water. It still looks muddy if we are trudging through it (like at camp when we go creek stomping). In fact the more people that walk through it the harder it gets to see at times. It is only when we stop and stand still that the water becomes clear again.

Our celebration of Sabbath, our stillness, our prayers - they are all pleasing sacrifices that we bring to God. But they all require us to choose - especially to make choices about how we spend our time. What will you choose this day? 

When in your week or year do you experience real Sabbath? How is prayer a part of your renewal?

What small or large choices can you make in your life to allow for a celebration of Sabbath?

Prayer: Lord, we confess that not all the choices we make about how we spend our time honor you. We confess that we make choices that rob us of opportunities for prayer. We make choices that rob us of opportunities to experience your joy. Forgive us, O Lord, and help us to realign our future choices around you. Amen. 

Friday: “For Us” - Mark 2:27

The Sabbath was a gift from God for us, yet all too often we forsake this gift, seeing it as a burden instead of a blessing. The Sabbath should a time of thanksgiving. A time to tell us who we are and whose we are.

In some Jewish traditions, one way to remember that the Sabbath is a gift is to have beautiful special things - candles, tablecloths, plates, etc. - that are only used on the Sabbath. Sabbath is also a time to feed our very souls, not simply to step away from work and stressors but to do things differently in a way that gives us renewed meaning and hope. 

What resonates with you about the statement that the Sabbath was made for people? How is this a lived truth (or not) in your life?

Prayer: Lord, we are slow to change our ways. We say we want rest and restoration, but we don’t change any of our circumstances to make it so. We say that we want to celebrate the Sabbath, but all too often act as if it is a burden. Let us live into what you have for us, on the Sabbath and always, and embrace it as a blessing. Amen. 

Saturday: Preparing for the Word

You are invited to read and pray this week’s text and topic: “Praying Bold Prayers” - Numbers 11:4-23, 31-32 

Family Activity: Sabbath should be the climax of our week. We should anticipate it as it gets closer, celebrate it when it arrives, and reflect upon it when it is past. What can you do to live into this pattern as a family?