Weekly Devotion 7-14-21

Devotion with Kim Wu

Our culture suffers from a pervasive feeling that we are never enough, that our work is never enough.  We are weary, not just from lack of physical rest, but even more so from a lack of spiritual rest.

Judith Shulevitz, in a New York Times article, described our need for a deep sabbath rest as a time when the “eternal inner murmur of self reproach” could be stilled.

To understand what deep rest really is, and where we can get it, Timothy Keller says we should first look to the creation story.  Whenever God created something, he declared it good, and after six days of creating, he declared them all very good and he rested on the seventh day.  To rest then, means to be utterly satisfied with what has been done.

But if that’s true for God, what does that mean for us?  How can we rest?

“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4:9-10)

We are able to rest through Christ, who is “Lord of the Sabbath”.  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28)

Through Christ, we can look at our work as God looked at His, and say it is good.

Norman Wirzba, in his book Living the Sabbath, wrote, “Sabbath rest is thus a call to Sabbath trust, a call to visibly demonstrate in our daily living that we know ourselves to be upheld and maintained by the grace of God rather than the strength and craftiness of our own hands.  To enjoy a Sabbath day, we must give up our desire for total control.  We must learn to live by the generosity of manna falling all around us.”

We are not the ones who are keeping the world spinning on its axis.  God is in control, and we can trust Him.  We can rest in knowing that, and in knowing that we do not have to prove ourselves to the world.  God already looks at us and at our work, and says it is good.

Heavenly Father, our Creator and Redeemer, thank you for the gift of sabbath rest.  Help us to let go of the constant striving of this world and enter into the deep spiritual rest provided through Your Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

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