Learning to Rest

This week I am preaching on the 4th commandment . . . God’s invitation to rest, celebrate, and enjoy the gift of life on a weekly basis. Last week I was with Anglican pastors on a leadership program that created space for us to slow down, celebrate the beauty of creation, enjoy fellowship, games and laughter, and spend time with good friends and our good God.

So as an encouragement and reminder that resting is a God thing, here are a few pallet-cleansing scriptures that show God’s heart and desire for us to rest:

• Deuteronomy 33:12   "Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between His shoulders."   
  
• Isaiah 30:15  “This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”
  
• Leviticus 23:3   "'There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath [rest] to the LORD.”
  
• Hebrews 4:9-11  “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His.  11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall …” 
  
• Psalm 46:10: “Be still and know that I am God.” 
  

Seeking to Obey God’s Great Command to Rest, ~ David