Rest


Exo 34:21  "Work six days and rest the seventh. Stop working even during plowing and 

	harvesting. 


	Yesterday morning I woke up to something that is very unusual for this time 

of the year in Ohio- a sunny day. I quickly realized how important this was, for much 

work that I'm needing to get done on the house requires warmer, dry weather for its 

performing. Sometimes you can wait for days on end for the right weather and each 

moment when it does come seems to demand that it be used expediently. So, I did 

my best to salvage as much of the sun's rays and the warm, dry day, working till there 

was just no light left to see. Once I got on track with my goals of accomplishing these 

things there was a determination that disallowed other requests for my time. My 

daughter wanted me to take her friend and her to the mall, and my son wanted me to 

play a game with him, but I let them know that while the sun was shining my time 

must be used on these jobs. Until they were completed, these tasks were demanding 

that they be given attention in this limited time. 

	This experience reminded me of the harvest time back in Colorado when I was 

growing up. Sugar beats were in demand at that time as there was a sugar factory not 

too far away that would process them for sugar. It was essential that the beats be 

harvested at just the right time, because they needed to grow to complete maturity, 

but that meant waiting until right before freezing weather, which would ruin them. 

So, when this harvest time came, there was no stopping until it was over. The 

machines were in the fields and the trucks were making trips to the processing yards 

24/7. We lived on a highway that ran through town, and I remember that all through 

the night you could hear the trucks going by. Any responsible farmer who wanted to 

gain the greatest return on his crop of sugar beats would do all that he could to 

insure that work continued without stop until the last beat was taken from the 

ground. To ask him to take a break for a day would be a futile request, because he 

knew that each day's passing was a potential loss of return on his crop and he could 

not responsibly do that. 

	I know I've read this before, but probably because of my recent experience, 

this command to rest took on new meaning for me today. How could you ever ask 

someone to stop working during harvest time? How could you expect them to stop 

doing something during a time when each moment was so valuable and precious to 

the work at hand? For many this would be one of the greatest things to give up, their 

commitment to responsibly accomplish all that is their duty.  To actually give this 

time up would require great trust in the one that was making the request. You would 

be potentially sacrificing your very livelihood to do what? -just rest. 



Heb 4:1  For as long, then, as that promise of resting in him pulls us on to God's goal for 

	us, we need to be careful that we're not disqualified. 

Heb 4:2  We received the same promises as those people in the wilderness, but the 

	promises didn't do them a bit of good because they didn't receive the promises with 

	faith. 

Heb 4:3  If we believe, though, we'll experience that state of resting. But not if we don't 

	have faith. 

	

	Rest is a wonderful thing, and especially when the job is complete, there is 

nothing better than just taking a nice hot bath and just resting. There is a promise of this 

rest for us, but we can get so caught up in feeling pressed for time and thinking that our 

every moment must be occupied with doing something that we never learn that the battle 

is won and the victory secured, the job is complete in Him. By requiring that the children 

of Israel rest, God wanted them to not only get needed physical recovery but, especially 

in harvest time, He wanted them to trust Him with their complete welfare. Caught up in 

what must be done, even on a "spiritual" level, during time of great need in a financial, 

health or relational issue, we can have great difficulty in letting go of the responsibility of 

doing everything we know to do. There is a place of rest for us, though; even in the time 

when it would seem that all of our energy must be given to the tasks at hand. Giving in to 

this command of rest is giving in to the One who will really provide for the work's 

successful completion. In letting go of our responsibility we are really exercising faith in 

our relationship with our Father and believing in His ability to make it turn out right. 

While we must be diligent to set our hand to what is before us, each thing can be done 

with a spirit of rest in knowing that it is all in the hands of our Father. 



	TGIS- Thank God it's Sunday. I think I'll take a rest. (It's snowing out anyway)



4/404