DWM-33 & NR1-36 & NR7-18 & RIG-04 & WFF-47 & WWJ-28
Short Clip
A Personal Sabbath Rest IS CHRIST’S PRESCRIPTION FOR HEALING THE HURRY SICKNESS OF THE 21ST CENTURY CHURCH
As the world around us accelerates, our energies wane. But we are not defenseless victims. The following suggestions will help replace frenzy with peace and rest.
A Personal Sabbath Rest: Helps us Find Stillness as we bow before God –
“Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10 NIV). Before hurrying past that profound command, let’s turn it over in our minds several times.
Cease striving and know that I am God.
Stand silent! Know that I am God! [TLB]
Let be and be still, and know—recognize and understand—that I am God. [AMP]
“Give in”, he cries, “admit that I am God.” [Moffat]
“Stop fighting, “ he says, “and know that I am God.” [TEV]
Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above everything. [The Message]
However we may prefer to read it, this is an emphatic imperative addressed to God’s own people. People of every race, color, culture, and era…people of any level of maturity and age…people who are employed or unemployed, single or married, with or without children, all people whose God is the Lord. We are commanded to stop (literally)…rest, relax, let go, and make time for Him.
The scene is one of stillness and quietness, listening and waiting before Him. Such foreign experiences in these busy times! Nevertheless, knowing God deeply and intimately requires such discipline. Silence is indispensable if we hope to add depth to our spiritual life. It “guards the fire within our souls.”… “silence makes us pilgrims,” writes one who advocates protracted, uninterrupted periods of quietness. It sharpens the keen edge of our souls, sensitizing us to those ever-so-slight nudgings from our heavenly Father. Noise and words and frenzied, hectic schedules dull our senses, closing our ears to his still, small voice and making us numb to His touch. One scholar and author does a splendid job of analyzing then illustrating the downside of what he calls “our wordy world.”