Honoring the Sabbath

¹³ If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,
    from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call the sabbath a delight
    and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
    serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;
¹⁴ then you shall take delight in the Lord,
    and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
 for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 58:13-14

The Sabbath was created as a day of rest. God rested from all his work and made the Sabbath day hallowed. He created the Sabbath as a day of praise for himself. The Sabbath is a day away from the cares of daily life. And it is a time of refreshing in the presence of the Lord.

In postexilic Israel the people were not observing the Sabbath. They continue with their work and their daily living. The Sabbath was not a day of rest but a day to pursue their own interest rather than the interest of God. God set aside the Sabbath to worship and praise him, not to go our own ways. But Israel ignored the commandment to rest on the Sabbath. As a result Israel was not enjoying the blessing of the Lord. They complained that God was to weak and deaf to help them.

Do we ignore the Sabbath? Do we go our own way? Is it enough to go to church on Sunday morning, give God an hour or two of our time? Does he want more? Is playing golf and watching football the same as going our own way. What of shopping malls and running weekend errands on Sundays? When we enjoy ourselves by doing our own thing, we are not resting the way God intended.

It is not enough to lie down on the couch and rest from work. We must learn to take delight in the Sabbath and honor the Sabbath. For most of us this is Sunday not Saturday. But still, we must try to understand what it means to delight and honor God on Sunday. Perhaps a walk in the woods and praising God as you go for the beauty he created in this world. You might spend time with family, actively drawing close to each other in activities such as board games or touch football. Rather than shopping for more things, we could prepare a meal together and invite friends to our table.

It is not an easy change to let go of our own ways. But with God’s help we can discover the delight of the Sabbath. More than just a day consumed with selfish interest but a day to find new pleasures. The Sabbath can become a day to refresh us spiritually, mentally, and physically. A day set aside from all other days of the weak. A day to praise God in all we do.

Dear Lord, help me to find ways to delight in the Sabbath. Help me give up my own interest and honor you. Give me wisdom to give up my own ways and to make the Sabbath a holy day to you. 

That you may know

I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 2:18-19

What is the love of God? We talk about it but do we comprehend its breath, length, height and depth? It is easy to believe God loves us as we love him.  Sometimes we love him as a good father. Other times he seems to be a far off wondrous mystery. Something we can’t quite grasp in our feeble brains. It is easy to believe that God’s love for us is a reflection of our feelings. Days when thing are good we see God’s love as good. But on days when things are bad we see God as more distant.

On Sundays we speak of God’s love but what of the other days of the week. Do we forget after church that God still loves us? Going through our days of work, shopping, house cleaning, sporting events, and leisure can distract us from lessons learned on Sundays. Sometimes pressure of the week can drain the knowledge attained on Sunday out of us.

God showed his love for us when Christ suffered and died on the cross. This is one indisputable point where we know God loves us. A time when God called us back to himself, to be redeemed as his loved children. Surely this is what Paul spoke of in Ephesians, to know love that surpasses knowledge. The breadth, length, height and depth of God’s love were demonstrated when the King of the universe chose Calvary.

Yet as undeniable as the cross is, there are other ways to experience God’s love. In faith based prayer, one can feel the love of God when prayers are answered. Reading the bible one can experience the very breath of God as he speaks to us. The love of a parent for a child is a reflection of God’s love for us. Charitable acts can share the love of Christ with others.  

In this world we can experience God’s love for us and we can share the love of Christ with others. What of the next world? It is one thing to hear a loved one’s voice or to read a letter. But what happens when we stand face to face with the King of the universe in heaven. What emotions will we experience as love in heaven? We will probably discover the breadth, length, height, and width of love far surpass our earthly imagination. What we know this side of the grave is but a reflection of what we will experience on the other side.

Dear Lord, Let me know the breadth, length, depth, and width of your love. Let me share your love with others. May I become a reflection of your heavenly love for others. That through me others will have a desire to draw closer to you and your great love..

The God who sees us

If I take the wings of the morning
    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me fast.

Psalms 139:9-10

One of God’s names is El-Roi, the God who sees me. He was called this in the Old Testament by Haggar when God told her she would have a son. She said “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing Him?” She was amazed that God not only spoke to hear but she saw Him. We do not know if she saw Jesus, the Holy Spirit of Jehovah. But it affected her to the point that she gave Him a name and the spring where they met was named also.

It would be a life-changing event to met Jesus face-to-face. Certainly in the Bible people were always changed when they met God. In the New Testament thousands of people were changed when they heard Jesus speak. He not only feed the five thousand but he taught them. He captured their attention with his miracles and many became his followers.

It is wonderful to see Jesus but it is also significant to grasp that he sees us. As El-Roi means, he sees me. There is nowhere we can go to be out of his sight. Nothing we can do that goes unnoticed. As the Psalms says, even on the farthest limits of the sea there God is to lead us and hold us tight. He never lets go and never turns away. He watches us always.

It is a great comfort to have a God who is always there. No circumstances or trial are beyond his watchful eye. His hand is always stretched out to take hold of us. We are never beyond his grasp. Whatever comes in the difficult world, our God is there.

He sees us and he knows us. We have no secrets from him. Whatever we tell him he knew before. We cannot surprise him or shock him. All the details of our life are laid open before him. If there is anything we need to take before God, we can rest in the assurance that it is already before him. He only waits for us to speak. Sometimes he will bring it to our minds that we may speak to him.

God is loving, kind, and compassionate. He sees everything and still wants a relationship with us. We are never beyond his reach in deed or thought. We can rest in the peace that he knows us and still loves us.

Hope of His calling

with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.

Ephesians 1: 18-19

The eyes of our heart is our understanding. Paul wants the Ephesians’ understanding of God to have spiritual depth and spiritually insight that they may better know that God has called them to be in Christ. The hope that God has called us is to live with the peace and wisdom of Christ. To live beyond a normal existence and experience things this world cannot give. To be in Christ is to accept him as Lord over our lives and live according to his will.

How do we learn to live with the peace and wisdom of Christ? What is it that transforms us to experience a life different from others in this world? Although prayer and Bible study are important there are others things which God uses to enlighten our minds. Sometime painful experiences are the only way to get our attention. When we are busy with day to day problems we often forget God. In our comfortable lives God seems unnecessary. We put God on the back burner and busy ourselves with menial task. We comfort ourselves with loved ones, shopping sprees, or entertainment. There is so much in this world to draw our attention we fail to notice how we replace God with people and things.

Suffering is a powerful focusing agent. If a loved one is ill or we lose the ability to pay our bills the associated pain quickly prioritizes out thinking. Where we once drifted from one amusement to another, pain will cause us to drop every insignificant thing and bring all our attention to bear on the pain. We quickly turn to the Bible for a word of hope or to prayer for peace.

Suffering produces endurance as we learn to carry more for a longer period of time. Endurance produces character when we have learned to endure we become people with a better reputation. We stop acting as children and display the character of maturity. This new found character produces hope of Christ in our lives. And the richness of God’s salvation from a life of sin to the inheritance of the saints produces peace.

Dear Lord, fill me with hope to know your calling. Let me learn from the things you bring into my life. Give to me all I can bear so that I may develop endurance, character and hope. Let me always remember the glorious richness you have given me and the immeasurable greatness of your power.