Rest

Rest- obtainable? Absolutely! 

Exodus 34:21 NASB

You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest.

Slow down and rest! Everything will be there tomorrow...

Day 154: Harvest peace, find rest…

Exodus 34:21 NASB

You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest.

Living in grace, harvesting peace, and learning patience leads to rest because you have the time to dedicate yourself to being still. Yet, there is a mandatory component to rest. Intentionality! It is layered throughout scripture from the very beginning as it was established by God Himself on day seven.

Genesis 2:2-3 NASB

By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

This was and remains one of the hardest lessons I have learned but continually relearn over and over again. I have to plan to rest. I have to say no. I have to stop. I have to honor God in all of it. This is a part of continuous education in my life. I am not sure I will ever master this concept, but I am actively working on it each week.

         Why am I constantly working on rest? There are lots of excuses, but they are all like a car without wheels. They don’t go anywhere and they make me look silly in the grand scheme of things. This is where today’s verse carries a lot of weight in my life. Even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest…

         As an educator we have two major seasons of exhaustion, returning to school and the end of the year. There is so much associated with the busy mundane preparations of getting ready to receive new students and likewise at the end, so much connected to sending them forward in life that educators find themselves burning the candle at both ends. Many professions experience this kind of seasonal shift and it takes its toll on all of us. Which is why this scripture becomes so valuable. It reminds us that even in the middle of an abundance of work, we are meant and designed to need the break.

         Now, rest is not just sleep or idleness, there is so much more to it than that and we are going to explore this concept throughout the next three weeks, but our baseline is “He rested on the seventh day.” Even in the pursuit of writing these devotions, rest was mandatory every seventh day. It was imperative that time was taken to rest from the writing and gathering of each of the scriptures. In the middle of things, it has provided such clarity and deep appreciation for the callings God has placed in my life. Therefore, I know if you adopt the same practice, you will see benefits from protecting and intentionally taking the time to rest each week.

Dear Resting Father,

         Thank You for setting such an amazing example for us to experience and study. You led by example and hardwired it into the fabric of our DNA to need rest. Then You commanded that we follow Your word even in the seasons of our lives that would contain the most work for us to do. Lord, may we honor You in our physical rest and shut things down for a time each week to allow our hearts and minds to reconnect to our souls and You Jesus. Teach us to honor You. In Jesus’ name, amen.