Thursday, April 19, 2018

In Green Pastures and Beside Still Waters

Thursday, April 19, 2018
The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. 
He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.
He renews my strength.  Psalm 23:1-3(NLT)
Green meadows with peaceful streams are quiet places.  Every human needs times of quiet to be restored – to have strength return to the body and mind.  For the Christian follower of Jesus those times are for prayer, casting all our cares upon the Lord.[2]  And, in order to do that there must be times of repose, purposeful rest!
For me the ability to gain restoring to my soul requires exchanging my exhaustion for God’s renewal.  This is an issue of sabbath, a principle God established early on for His people to prevent wearing out prematurely. 
“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God.  On that day no one in your household may do any work.  This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested.  That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.  Exodus 20:8-11(NLT)
I have known people who seemed to think the concept of sabbath was so antiquated it didn’t apply to them.  The idea of taking a day off seemed wasteful; there was a world to be conquered out there, and taking time off from the conquest was lazy and irresponsible.  God may have rested on the seventh day, but the world would fall apart if they did…with all due respect, it doesn’t; your world comes unglued when you fail to rest.
Even one of the most famous myth creators knew this well.  The story goes that Aesop was playing a children’s game with some very young kids when a colleague walked by.  The man remarked that Aesop was wasting time with those children, playing a worthless game when he should have been working.  Aesop got up, picked-up his bow and laid it in the middle of the road and then challenged the man to tell him the meaning of what he just did.  The man wracked his brain for a long time, but couldn’t come up with an answer.  Having won this battle of wits, Aesop then explained, 'If you keep your bow tightly strung at all times, it will quickly break, but if you let it rest, it will be ready to use whenever you need it.' In the same way the mind must be given some amusement from time to time, so that you will find yourself able to think more clearly afterwards.[3]
For You Today
If you ignore sabbath you run the risk of being ineffective as a disciple at least.  But the more weighty transgression is to know that you have marginalized something God said was important.  If it’s been awhile, rest your bow today!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Russell Brownworth
[2] 1 Peter 5:7
[3] Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura GibbsOxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002. 

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