Pause and Reflect

I don’t know about you, but I can easily run to the wrong things for my rest. I think we all can do that, really. Whether entertainments, pleasures, secret sins, or just shutting off our brains for a while, and I don’t think I’m overstating this, we can run to the wrong things for rest. While I disagree with Sabbath arguments, and getting in to the semantics of what constitutes “work” (his critics lambasted Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, for example), I think rest is absolutely an appropriate thing. I admit, I rest in all the wrong ways. That is why Jesus said “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27) Instead of rest in and worship of God, people made it about the day itself.

Alternatively, Jesus says “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). The Day of Rest was a gift of God to us; REST itself is a gift, and not just something we’re supposed to do once a day! We weren’t made to slot a time in with God, nor were we made even to “fill in the open spots” as we seem to do nowadays. We were made to rest. The psalmists even had a tool implemented within certain Psalms, Selah, which many authors believe to mean “Pause and Reflect.”

I say all that, and probably in a rambling sort of way too, to say this: instead of Pausing and Reflecting, instead of coming to Jesus for our rest, and instead of TAKING TIME OUT to pause and rest in Him, we’re too caught up in business. We come home, turn our TVs on, music, movies, computers, phones, video games, and whatever else we may have and wonder why rest never seems restful. We turn to and run to things that entertain, but do not pause and reflect on God often enough. Jesus is our rest. The Lord is our helper. Turn off everything else, whether once, or throughout the week, and abide in Him. When we can learn to do that, when we can find our respite, retreat, peace, and hope in Him alone, then we will find our true rest.

Psalm 4

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!

    You have given me relief when I was in distress.

    Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?

    How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah

But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;

    the Lord hears when I call to him.

Be angry, and do not sin;

    ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah

Offer right sacrifices,

    and put your trust in the Lord.

There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?

    Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”

You have put more joy in my heart

    than they have when their grain and wine abound.

In peace I will both lie down and sleep;

    for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 127

Unless the Lord builds the house,

    those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

    the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early

    and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

    for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

    the fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

    are the children of one's youth.

Blessed is the man

    who fills his quiver with them!

He shall not be put to shame

    when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.