Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father clear our hearts and minds of the cluttered tension of our daily living. Father, we need your help. We so often and so easily forget that we live our lives in your presence, by your side with your Son, filled with the Spirit. With you there is unparalleled peace and wonder-ful rest. Father, in the name of Jesus, by the guiding of the Spirit, help us to entrust ourselves wholly to you today, and to seek the rest of your presence amidst the busyness of our lives. Amen.
Your Morning Song: "It Is Well With My Soul" by Audrey Assad (Horatio Spafford)
Your Morning Scripture: Genesis 1:5b, 8b, 13, 19, 23, 31
And there was evening
and there was morning—the first day.
And there was evening,
and there was morning—the second day.
And there was evening,
and there was morning—the third day.
And there was evening,
and there was morning—the fourth day.
And there was evening,
and there was morning—the fifth day.
And there was evening,
and there was morning—the sixth day.
...
Have you ever forgotten something important? You have? Oh good. It's not just me. And to make sure that you and I are on the same page, we know what kind of "forgetting" we're talking about here, right? It isn't a lack of factual knowing, it is a knowing that becomes distant, and remains as an idea that has no connection to our present, active, daily living.
What does God want our every day relationship with Him to be like? Have we forgotten? Maybe we just need a reminder. Or perhaps some of us haven't heard this before.
God wants our practical, daily, weekly, real-life living and walking with Him to be built on rest. Rest in Him. Rest with Him. True, soul-deep, rest.
How're we doing with that? If you're anything like me, a reminder might be helpful. Let's look at Genesis 1 together to see what God has to say.
Moses, inspired and in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, was writing to the Hebrew slaves fresh out of Egypt, and likely to their children. These slaves would begin their day by waking up and getting to work for their Egyptian masters.
God had something different in mind for them. Notice anything odd about the way each day of creation transition from one to the next? Evening and then morning. I don't know about you, but that isn't how I would describe a day passing.
What would that be like for a slave? God saves this people from slavery and unbearable suffering, and then says your day starts when it used to end. It is evening, and then morning. What is the first thing these slaves would do to start such an oddly constructed day?
Rest. Sleep, to be precise, but the idea and goal and plan and desire that God has for His people here is rest.
That is why the first six days have a beginning and end. Evening, and then morning. What about the seventh day? Does it have this same transition to show that it is over?
Nope.
You could argue that the seventh day still continues even now. No transition is given. What is it that God does on that day? He rests. And we are to join Him. Humankind was created to be in close, personal, intimate relationship with Him. And the foundation of our relationship with God, is to be a shared rest. Between God and His children.
What a beautiful new way for slaves to see themselves and their God.
What a deeply needed reminder for many of us who, like those slaves, perhaps see our value as what we can produce. And our rest as somehow needing to be earned by our results.
Nope.
The rest, the Sabbath that God calls us to, is not for Him. It is for us. It is with Him. Seek rest in the presence of God today. Talk with Him. Read His Word with Him. Sing songs with Him. And entrust yourself to His restful presence. In which, by Christ, there is no condemnation. Only peace and comfort. Only rest.
Go for a walk! Go for a drive! Sit and drink some coffee! Do whatever stills you, whatever steadies you, whatever slows your heartbeat and smooths out your thoughts. And as you do, know that God is with you, filling you, leading you and guiding you. Forever further up and further in. In Him there is always more of all the best things.
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