Posts Tagged: rest

On August 2, 2022 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

DTEB, “The Most Important Day of Your Life: a Day Called ‘Today’”

“Psa. 95:1 ¶    Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;

                        let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

Psa. 95:2         Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

                        let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

Psa. 95:3         For the LORD is a great God,

                        and a great King above all gods.

Psa. 95:4         In his hand are the depths of the earth;

                        the heights of the mountains are his also.

Psa. 95:5         The sea is his, for he made it,

                        and his hands formed the dry land.

Psa. 95:6 ¶      Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

                        let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

Psa. 95:7         For he is our God,

                        and we are the people of his pasture,

                        and the sheep of his hand.

             Today, if you hear his voice,

Psa. 95:8         do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,

                        as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

Psa. 95:9         when your fathers put me to the test

                        and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

Psa. 95:10       For forty years I loathed that generation

                        and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,

                        and they have not known my ways.”

Psa. 95:11       Therefore I swore in my wrath,

                        “They shall not enter my rest.”(Psalm 95, English Standard Version)

“Like Jesus, Today is often crucified between two thieves: Yesterday and Tomorrow.” (Source unknown)

The Bible talks a lot about today. Psalm 95 is a command to sing to the LORD. Ample reasons are given to do so. However, in verse 7, there is this crucial word “today”. “Today, if you hear his voice . . . .” Then the psalmist turns to history, an incident that happened on the way from Egypt to the promised land. After seeing many miracles in Egypt and along the way, the Israelites still didn’t really trust God. The problem wasn’t God. The problem was the human heart. Specifically, the Israelites “hardened their hearts” and grieved God.

The upshot of all this was that they put God to the test. They wanted to see even more miracles. They went astray, not geographically, but in their hearts. God got royally ticked off and swore an oath. “No rest for you!” he said.

How can a psalm that begins so positively end so negatively? Well, I guess that’s what happens when we willfully harden our hearts and go astray. Ancient Israel had no monopoly on such hardness and heart-straying. It can happen to any of us. Keeping a tender and grateful heart toward God is not easy, but if we want to enter into the rest that God gives, it is absolutely essential. It is a daily task. Why? Because our hearts can get hard and go astray in a day—or even a small part of the day. The most important day of our lives is always Today.

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“JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF SLEEP?”

On January 4, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.”  (Psalm 127:2, New Living Translation, italics mine)

“28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

  29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

  30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”  (Matthew 11:28-30, New Living Translation, italics mine)

“1 God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it.

  2 For this good news– that God has prepared this rest– has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.

  3 For only we who believe can enter his rest.” (Hebrews 4:1-3a, New Living Translation, italics mine)

 

Here is my journal entry for this morning:

Thursday, January 4, 2018

I am not getting as much sleep as I think I need.  I am working more diligently, which is good.  However, I’m not sure getting four hours of sleep is very good.

On the other hand, I don’t want to lose any sleep over my lack of sleep.  As the saying goes, “there is no problem so bad that it can’t be made worse by worrying about it.”

Sleep, like life itself, comes as a gift from God.  It comes in the amounts and times that God determines.  I need to learn to be content.

Perhaps rest is more important than sleep.  Perhaps I will be alright if I can go through the day restfully.  I think that it is even possible to work in a restful manner.

Jesus spoke of God as always at work (John 5:17).  The authors of Genesis and of Hebrews (Genesis 2:2-3; Hebrews 4:1-3a) talk about God resting from all his works.  If I am made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27, I too can learn the fine art of balancing work and rest.

And, of course, there is always the chance to nap.

 

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