Rest

The Sabbath is a Gift

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Mark 2:27 ESV

It has been a delight reading all the comments about those, who, like me, have struggled with figuring out what to do with the Sabbath. Let’s remember that the Sabbath is more than just God’s design or one of the ten commandments, it was also God’s first gift to us. Today’s verse comes from a story about Jesus and HIs disciples walking through fields and picking a few heads of grain to eat. Though most of us have never heard a single message preached from these verses, Matthew, Mark, and Luke each considered this passage so important that they included it among their highlights of Jesus’ teaching. Our cooperate loss of understanding about the Sabbath makes me think of when we visited a village in Switzerland many years ago. It was Sunday morning and the family we were staying with wasn’t going to church, so I went out for a long walk. While climbing up through the steep hills surrounding our valley, I came upon an ancient looking stone church. There, as I paused to admire it and rest, a man drove up, parked his car, got out and unlocked the door. After, he went in a few minutes later the bells began to ring, and their lovely sound echoed out as they pealed over the valley. Once he finished his duties, the man, locked the doors behind him, got back in his car and drove away. His faithful ringing of those bells sometimes reminds me of how on Sunday, we ring the bells, remembering vaguely that it is God’s day, then pause only long enough to catch our spiritual breath, get back in our cars and drive off. In the story leading up to today’s verse, the Pharisees just didn’t get what Sabbath was either. They angrily criticized the disciples’ behavior on the seventh day, because they thought that picking a few ears of corn, was an act of harvest. But, Jesus made it clear that God’s purpose for the Sabbath was for it to be a day of blessing for man and not a burden. He reminds us that God did not create man so that a Sabbath could be observed, but He had created the Sabbath as a gift. Jesus wanted us to know that Sabbath rest is the wonderful gift of refreshing from which we can go out to do all He has called us to do. Remember also that enjoying God’s Sabbath, keeps its blessing pouring out, not only for us but for our children and grandchildren and every generation until Jesus returns and we enter His amazing eternal and wonderful day of rest!


Keeping Sabbath

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. Exodus 31:16 ESV

“Keep / Shamar - To hedge about (as with thorns) to guard; gen. to protect...”  Strong's Hebrew/Aramaic Dictionary

Even after Sixty-five years, I can still clearly remember my grandmother’s small front yard, because of the barberry bushes around the edges of that bit of grass. How I not only hated those tiny shrubs, but I can still feel their teeth! Whenever I would brush my leg too closely or ran my hands ever so gently over their tops, small, almost invisible thorns reached out and quickly grabbed hold. Rarely could the barb be found and usually a few days passed before my skin would push out the unwanted invader. My grandmother planted those tiny guardians of the front yard to keep her grass area from becoming a shortcut for any of us as we headed around her corner on the way to the elementary school down the street. My grandmother was a wise person, knowing that neither signs, nor verbal warnings could do any better than her guard of thorns.

Our God in His wisdom has created one day out of seven to be a garden of rest for us. Before He gave His law; in fact, even before there was sin – there was Sabbath. Sabbath is His gift, and He has woven it into the DNA of our bodies, minds, and spirits. Keeping Sabbath is not about rules or yelling at the neighbors to turn down their hip-hop music. Keeping Sabbath is about planting an internal hedge to slow down the stampede of life that constantly threatens to stomp on the garden. Keeping Sabbath is about joining God as He rests, trusting and knowing that while there is always something to be done; God delights in the time that we rest in Him because He wants to give us His wonderful rest for our soul.

Not a Very Good Waiter - Verse Three*

Then He waited and prayed in the garden
For all who one day would come
To the cross where He died at the top of the Hill
To find rest with their burdens undone

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29 ESV

Not a Very Good waiter by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright 2024 - all rights reserved.
* see entire poem at bottom of post
Not a Very Good Waiter

I’m not a very good waiter
Doing nothing seems simply a waste
But our Father just loves to walk slowly
Doing nothing in hurry or haste

By a well He waited at noonday
For the woman who thirsted for more
And He calls us to come when we’re weary and worn
For refreshing that He has in store

Then He waited and prayed in the garden
For all who one day would come
To the cross where He died at the top of the Hill
To find rest with their burdens undone

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29 ESV

Not a Very Good Waiter

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Exodus 31:15 ESV

It is amazing how resting, which after a long hard work-week, you might think would be kind of desirable and natural. And yet to those Israelites as much as with us today it was such a struggle that God had to prescribe the death penalty, in order to get everyone’s attention about obeying this commandment. And you might also assume that since I am now in my early seventies and still struggling through Covid, that I would be smart enough to listen to my wife and rest. But no! The lawn needed mowing, the weather was perfect, and no one was around outside. What could it hurt? Stumbling back inside a while later, I learned what it could hurt and that was my body! God has not only designed us to rest, and to rest in Him, but He has also made it so there will be consequences when we fail to do so. Since rest is something, I am still trying to learn after 50 plus years as a Christian, I hope that this upcoming series on rest may be of benefit to others as well. Today was just a teaser, but we’ll begin in earnest on Monday (I have to rest tomorrow!). I am looking forward to hearing your comments, feedback or personal stories on how you are learning to rest.

Not a Very Good Waiter
I’m not a very good waiter
Doing nothing seems simply a waste
But our Father who loves to walk slowly
Does nothing in hurry or haste!