I lived in Broken Arrow, OK, during my Bible school years. From my parent’s driveway to my apartment parking lot it was exactly 1,000 miles. And like any normal 20-year-old Bible school student, I pulled an all-nighter to drive home for Thanksgiving. I was doing great until about 2:00 in the morning. And like any normal 20-year-old Bible school student, I didn’t have money for a hotel room. So, I had to press on.
First I tried caffeine….but that only made me have to use the bathroom. So….I had a brilliant idea. I thought I’d feed tired. I found that if I munched on various things (chips, carrots, nuts, chocolate) that it really helped me stay awake. The sugar gave me a rush and the protein kept me going. I stayed awake all night and drove straight through, but I paid for it for a few days.
They must realize that the Sabbath is the Lord’s gift to you. (Exodus 16:29)
It is a permanent sign of my covenant with the people of Israel. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and was refreshed.’” (Exodus 31:17)
The Word has a lot to say about the Sabbath. And He was pretty strict when telling the punishment for breaking it….being stoned to death. That sounds a bit steep, don’t you think? I’m one who thinks the punishment should fit the crime, and that always just seemed like a high price to pay to me.
I’m not saying as New Covenant Christians, we are supposed to keep the Sabbath from sundown to sundown or be punished. But there is something we can glean here. We need rest.
In Exodus 16, God is introducing manna to them. And Moses explained that every day they were supposed to collect 2 quarts per person, except on the day before the Sabbath, they were supposed to collect 4 quarts each. This was because there was to be no work done on the Sabbath. Period. It was to be a day of rest.
And we see in verse 29 that it’s the Lord’s GIFT to you. Later in Exodus, He even referenced it back to when He created the whole world and then stopped working and was refreshed on the 7th day.
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. (Deuteronomy 5:12)
That word observe means to guard. He wanted them to guard the day of rest. What a loving, amazing, caring God!
I think He knew in His infinite wisdom that human tendency would be to run ourselves into the ground! I don’t know a whole lot of people who are comfortable just being still. I know I have trouble with it at times. How about you?
I just came through a couple of crazy busy weeks, and I found myself “feeding tired” again. If I needed a pick-me-up, I would just make a cup of tea…and on some days coffee….and I found myself munching my way through the tired moments to get some more momentum going. And I ended up exhausted with a migraine and HAD to rest.
When is the last time you stopped working and were refreshed? Rest is a gift from God. It’s okay to have a do-nothing day. It’s okay to have a “jammie day” where you stay in your PJ’s all day and enjoy some quiet. (Not so easy when you have babies at home…..but it’s still so necessary if you can do it!)
You may be like me and think you are WAY too important with WAY too many things to do and the world will likely fall apart if you decide to rest for an hour……(I’m kind of a control-freak…’nuff said..LOL). Until I realized that Jesus was pretty important, and He rested. The apostle Paul had a pretty busy schedule, and he took time to rest in between missionary journeys.
So, maybe you don’t feed your tired like I do. Maybe you have a coffee IV attached to your arm. Maybe you exercise through your tired. Maybe you just power through.
It’s okay to leave those dishes in the sink (mine are right now) and leave the crumbs on the floor and sit down for a few minutes and close your eyes. Let your body rest. Let your mind rest. Spend a little extra time in His presence. He loves you so much He gave you the amazing gift of rest. Are you going to take it? I think I’m going to give it a try. 🙂
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-30)