SOAP: He commands us to rest

Today’s scripture actually comes from Saturday’s reading. It has been speaking to me since Saturday, so I feel compelled to share.

Scripture: Luke 23:56

Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

Observation: These women were in the process of preparing Jesus’ body for proper burial and they stopped in order to observe the Sabbath by resting.

Application: Here the ladies had a pretty big job ahead of them, which probably seemed very important:  They were to care for Jesus’ body according to the custom. Except the Sabbath came in the middle of the process.

Instead of thinking that God would understand that they needed to finish such an important job, they simply stopped and honored his commandment to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

They stopped doing the job with the intention of picking it up Monday.

And were they more behind on Monday? No!

Instead some were so rewarded that they were to first to see the risen Lord.

Woah! Perhaps we could all take note.

Lately I have been praying a LOT, asking God to show me how to order my priorities and to-do lists. I’ve been asking Him to show me what to drop and asking Him to give me the discipline and energy to get the rest done in joy. And then this verse hit me Saturday morning.

I think He is telling me that I need to observe the Sabbath. I need to stop working on Sunday and not use that day to ‘get ahead,’ but to recharge.

Yesterday afternoon I was baking and my husband came to me and said “Once you put that in the oven why don’t you come lie down with me?”

I thought he was crazy… I had too much to do. But then I thought I should honor his request: He is important, too.

When I got to the bedroom he had put a lighthearted movie in the DVD player and invited me to watch with him.

And then this verse hit me.

My husband had no idea of my reading or of my prayers of late. He just wanted to relax with me.

Hmmm. Was God using my husband to remind me to relax?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, you are ultimate accomplisher! You created this whole earth and all that is in it and you took the time to rest.

Thank you for this reminder that you designed me for rest, too.

Please continue to guide me to get my work done on 6 days and rest on the 7th. Show me how to organize my tasks so that I can honor you and live as you intended. Guide me to rest in faith and not question, just like those ladies did when faced with a seemingly important task.

Thank you so much, Lord, for caring for all of us so much that you don’t want us to work like crazy… you want us to pause, think of you and recharge.

Help me to put this into practice as you intend and honor you.

PS: If you are joining me as a Praying Wife and praying daily for your husband, today we are praying for our husband’s protection.


Comments

5 responses to “SOAP: He commands us to rest”

  1. […] So instead I am going to expand on a comment I received about my SOAP entry on the Sabbath. […]

  2. I keep running into this too. and I struggle with it. Is it resting if I watch football? that may sound like a flippant question, but i’m being serious. I have another friend who is blogging about this and he advocates completely disconnecting. no TV, no phone, just spending the time with his family.

    also how do you deal with travel on the Sabbath? Is it wrong to travel on Sunday? Air travel certainly isn’t restful. But (for us anyway) driving IS restful. We get to have long talks.

    this whole Sabbath thing has been on my heart a lot recently.
    .-= deirdre´s last blog ..ginny at 13 months =-.

    Your comment really made me think so much that I wrote a post in response. Thanks for the inspiration!

    http://www.momstoolbox.com/blog/2009/10/16/thoughts-on-observing-the-sabbath/

  3. This spoke volumes to me! My schedule has been very crazy for the last few weeks, and I haven’t thought that I had any time to just catch my breath. What a great read, and a reminder at this point in my life!
    .-= Phoebe @ Cents to Get Debt Free´s last blog ..Homemade Applesauce =-.

  4. I agree with you so much about this. Too often we think being busy is what we are supposed to do. But God commanded us to rest on the Sabbath so that we would be rested and prepared for the other 6 days of work. There is another passage (I can’t remember the reference at the moment) that says do not work on Sabbath – even during sowing and harvest. That stuck me as important. A farmer’s busiest seasons are sowing and harvest, and yet even during our busiest seasons we are to rest.

    Such an important reminder.
    .-= Sharon´s last blog ..Menu Plan – 10-11-2009 Fall Has Arrived =-.

  5. Isaiah 58 has always spoken to me about taking time to rejuvenate on the Sabbath….thanks for the reminder!
    .-= Melissa Multitasking Mama´s last blog ..Raising Awareness (and a giveaway!) =-.

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