I once heard that more women than men go to church because it's the only place a gal can sit for a couple of hours and not feel guilty. Today's "Jesus Calling" devotional rebukes the twisted thinking that we can't meet our basic need for rest without feeling guilty. Admit it: If someone catches you sitting, napping or enjoying a day to yourself, don't you feel the need to explain how hard you've been working? Many of us won't even rest as we should when we're sick or recovering from surgery, so following God's plan to rest as a proactive step in our spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being is simply foreign to us. Below is an excerpt from the self-pronounced atheist and Tour de France king Lance Armstrong's website Livestrong.com:
"One of the most important, yet overlooked, aspects of any exercise or training program is the recovery phase, or time spent resting. It is all too common a thought that rest time is a period of doing no work, and while you are not actually doing any physical work, physiologically your body is seizing the opportunity to repair itself to become stronger in preparation for the next exercise stress placed upon it. It is during rest that the body becomes stronger."
(Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/110639-importance-rest/#ixzz13H1KoleP)
Albert Einstein kept a cot in his office and when a problem stumped him (imagine the problem that stumped Einstein!) he would take a nap and wake up with the solution. Doesn't it tickle you pink when the worlds of medicine, science, and psychology agree that God knew what He was talking about in His Word?
We're in training and part of our discipline is to learn to rest and allow God to restore our souls. He "blessed the sabbath day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating He had done." God set the example and found a stopping place. What kind of witness to God's sovereignty and peace are we if we work nonstop, as if there is no Good Shepherd guiding and guarding us? Take a nap, for His name's sake, take a nap.
Father, forgive us for the pride that leads us to work like fools, as if everything depends on us. You are our sweet, loving Shepherd and we can rest in Your sight because You're looking out for us and call us to rest. Help us take care of ourselves by planning times to rest so that when You're ready to assign us a new mission, we're restored and ready. Teach us to praise You rather than spending our precious energy speculating and planning for every possibility. Teach us to relish the peace You came to give us so others will be drawn to the God of Peace.
In the name of Jesus, Prince of Peace
"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Psalm 23:1-3
"By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done." Genesis 2:2-3
(prophesied about John the Baptist's ministry)
"to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." Luke 1:79
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