A couple weeks ago one of our pastors preached on Sabbath rest. It was not about rules for Sunday but about a life pattern. God designed it for our good; six days of work and one day of rest. Rest is not necessarily lolling on the sofa with my feet up, but that is not what hit me in this sermon. It was one line the pastor used to describe what many people do: hurry, hurry, hurry, crash, hurry, hurry, hurry, crash. I see myself as one of those and I am crashing.
The pastor used the story of slavery in Egypt to remind us that we have been delivered from slavery, not to go back there. Then he asked, “What is your Pharaoh?” or my slavedriver? And my immediate thought was my to-do list, part of that hurry, hurry, crash pattern. My hubby will not let me blame the list though. He often says we are busy by choice. Eventually that choice takes a toll, and in my case, hurry, hurry weakened my body enough that it finally gave in to a virus.
Today’s devotional begins with some scolding but designed to get my thinking back on track: “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart . . .” (Psalm 19:8) A friend of ours used to call my attitude “stinkin’ thinkin’” — not because it makes a person smell bad but because it results in anything but rejoicing. It is thinking like most of the world thinks —assuming joy can only be found when you are 100% healthy. This idea is part of a false teaching called the prosperity gospel. Instead, the Word of God says:
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1–3)
I need to get my mind off poor me and on to the wonder of God’s ways. He can give joy in trials. He did it when I fell down those stairs and He can do it again. I need to read His Book because it is “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) My purpose in being here is not to feel sorry for myself but rejoice because I have been raised with Christ and can, “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1–4)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:3–12)
PRAY: Lord, forgive my selfish attitude and fill me with Your Spirit. Help me be mindful of the reason I live and to seek Your grace and power, rather than feel sorry for myself.
PONDER: the goodness of God and trust in His will for me. Seek Him in all things, big or small.
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