They Rest from Their Labors

Posted On March 19, 2023

“You, Lord, are my shepherd. I will never be in need.
You let me rest in fields of green grass.
You lead me to streams of peaceful water,
and you refresh my life.”

Psalm 23:1-3 CEV

Resting from our labors . . . Must be nice, right? It’s a pleasant thought, but we all know it’s not very realistic. After all, we’re busy people. We have things to do and places to be. Our weekdays are so full of activities and responsibilities that often the weekend is the only time we have to catch up, especially on Sunday.

As a student, and now as a teacher, I’ve spent many Sundays catching up on school work. Of course, since I started using automatically-graded online assignments, I find that my work load isn’t as heavy as it used to be. So now, I often spend Sundays working on this blog. And if it weren’t this, I would probably spend Sundays catching up on house work or running errands or doing any other work that needs to be done. After all, there’s just too much work. I can’t afford to take time to rest. It’s not like I’m skipping church, so I’m sure God understands. I’m sure He’s okay with this, isn’t He?

Um, actually, no. He’s not . . .

Our plan for 2023 is to journey through The NeverEnding Story of the Bible and discover how we fit into it along the way. Our plan for this year is loosely based on The Story, an abridged chronological version of the Bible, and the accompanying study guide The Heart of the Story by Randy Frazee.

Here is where we are in The Story:

MOVEMENT TWO: The Story of Israel (Genesis 12-Malachi)

Chapter 6 – Wandering

This chapter in The Story includes Numbers 10-14, 20-21, 25, 27 and Deuteronomy 1-2, 4, 6, 8-9, 29-32, 34. After Israel’s refusal to enter the Promised Land, God has mandated that they will wander in the desert for the next 40 years. This generation will not enter the Promised Land, but they are tasked with preparing the next generation to do so. They have many lessons to learn while they roam the wilderness, but the one I want to talk about this week is one that God Himself emphasized when He gave Moses the Ten Commandments:

“You have six days in which to do your work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me.” 

Deuteronomy 5:13-14 GNT

“Of the ten declarations carved in the tablets, which one occupies the most space? Murder? Adultery? Stealing? You’d think so. Certainly each is worthy of ample coverage. But curiously, these commands are tributes to brevity. God needed only five English words to condemn adultery and four to denounce thievery and murder. But when he came to the topic of rest, one sentence would not suffice.”

Max Lucado, Traveling Light

Here’s the commandment about rest God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai:

“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.”

Exodus 20:8-11 NLT

Three words jumped out at me as I read that passage: This includes you! Just in case there was still any doubt in my mind, God made it very clear. The Sabbath day is a day of rest dedicated to God, not a day to catch up on all my work. Oof! And here I am again, working on my blog. I guess one could argue that since it’s a Christian blog, it is a form of worship, so maybe it’s okay. After all, it does draw me closer to God. But it is also most definitely work. And it is stressful to finish it by the Sunday night deadline I have set for myself. So, I would have to conclude that it’s probably not okay to keep waiting until Sunday to finish it. In fact, I had promised myself I would start getting my blog post, and any other catch-up work I need to do, finished by Saturday night. But stuff came up this week — important stuff — and I got behind, so here I am. Does that maybe get me off the hook?

God Himself has already answered that question: “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you . . .” (Exodus 20:8-10 NLT).

So, what now? Should I just stop writing and finish this tomorrow? Maybe. But I have reached the point in this post where most of the hard work has already been done, and now it feels more like writing in my journal. And I definitely consider my journal writing as worship, not work. It’s a time when I talk to God and listen for Him to talk to me, and that’s very much like what I’m doing now. I’m just including you in the conversation. So, I will keep going for today. But in the future, I’m going to continue striving to keep my promise to finish all my work by Saturday night. And if I get behind on my blog again? I may just wait to finish on Monday.

Obviously, I’m not the best role model here, but I’m determined to do better. I’ve spent so many years treating Sunday as a catch-up day that it’s going to be hard to break this habit, but it’s important that I do. You know that “important stuff” that came up this week? It was actually a health scare — heart palpitations that landed me in the E. R. After an EKG, a chest x-ray, and blood work, the doctor determined there was nothing wrong with my heart. He said it’s most likely anxiety. After some Googling on my part, it looks like there are other things that could be causing it, but even if that’s the case, the symptoms I’m experiencing could be made worse by stress or anxiety.

So, yeah. Rest is important. Any doctor or psychologist would tell us this. God says so, too. It’s important for our physical, mental, and spiritual health. It’s so important that God gave us a very detailed commandment about it — a commandment I’ve ignored for too long. Maybe you can relate. As I strive to retrain myself to keep Sunday free for rest and worship, I will probably slip up once in a while. But just because we fail sometimes doesn’t mean we should quit. So, I’m going to keep trying. And if this is also a struggle for you, I pray you will, too.

“With his own pierced hands, Jesus created a pasture for the soul. . . . In a world rocky with human failure, there is a land lush with divine mercy. Your Shepherd invites you there. He wants you to lie down. Nestle deeply until you are hidden, buried, in the tall shoots of his love, and there you will find rest.”

Max Lucado, Traveling Light

“We are eternal creatures, and we ask eternal questions: Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is the meaning of life? What is right? What is wrong? Is there life after death? These are the primal questions of the soul. And left unanswered, such questions will steal our rest.”

Max Lucado, Traveling Light

Such questions will steal our rest. So will questions such as: What does God want me to do with my life? Am I following His will, or am I off course? How do I deal with the challenges I am facing? Is God listening? Will He help me? Letting our mind spin out of control with all these questions can definitely cause anxiety. But we won’t find the answers we need if we don’t take time to be still before God and listen. Our day of rest is a perfect time to clear our minds, receive God’s peace, and realign ourselves with His plan for us.

How, exactly? Through worship. I don’t just mean going to church on Sunday morning, although that’s a good way to start the day. I mean spending the entire day focused on God. Now before you start getting worried about how boring that sounds, let me make sure I don’t give you the wrong impression. I’m not saying we have to isolate ourselves in a dark, quiet room and stay on our knees all day in prayer or spend all day listening to “worship” songs. You certainly can, but I want us to think a little more broadly.

I wrote a post in January 2022 called True and Proper Worship, so I won’t repeat everything I wrote there. But by worship, I basically mean inviting God to spend the day with you. Clear the day for Him by making sure you’ve already taken care of all your work and obligations. Then do things together that you find fun or relaxing. Want to play a game with your kids? Do it, and thank God for bringing them into your life. Want to read a book or see a movie? Go for it, and ask God to teach you something through it. Want to spend the day outside? Enjoy the fresh air and praise God for His amazing creation. Want to take a nap? Lie down and pray yourself to sleep. Have a lot on your mind? Write about all that’s troubling you, and then ask God to speak to you about it through His Word. Basically, no matter what you are doing, quiet your mind, focus on God, and let Him refresh you.

By the way, the idea for the title of this blog post came from a song that was stuck in my head one morning as I was waking up. It’s a line from one of the songs I’m practicing for the community choir I sing in. The song is “Lux Aeterna” (Light Eternal), which is the last piece in John Rutter’s Requiem. I have included a recording of it at the end of this post so that you can hear it. It’s absolutely beautiful. There’s a part in the song where “they rest from their labors” repeats over and over, and that’s what was stuck in my head that morning. That line is actually talking about heaven (see Revelation 14:13), not Sabbath rest. But as I was thinking about this, I realized a connection that I never made before: Sabbath rest is our chance to experience a little bit of heaven on earth.

“Then I heard a voice from heaven say,
‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’
‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.'”

Revelation 14:13 NIV

This week’s Scripture passages focus on rest and worship, and point us toward the eternal rest that awaits us. This world, and all our labors and hardships associated with it, have a way of dragging us down. They distract us and make us forget our true home and the joy that awaits us. One day a week, God commands us to remember.

LUX AETERNA

I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me,
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord,
for they rest from their labours.
Even so saith the Spirit, for they rest.

Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine:
(Light eternal shine upon them, Lord, we pray,)
Cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es.
(With saints and angels ever dwelling, for thy mercy’s sake, may they rest in peace.)

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine,
(Grant them rest eternal, Lord, our God, we pray to thee,)
et lux perpetua luceat eis:
(and light perpetual shine on them for ever:)

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine;
(Grant them rest eternal, Lord, our God, we pray to thee;)
Requiem aeternam.
(Grant them rest eternal.)

~Requiem, John Rutter

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Matthew 11:28 NIV

References:

• Frazee, Randy.  The Heart of the Story: Discover Your Life Within the Grand Epic of God’s Story. Zondervan, 2017.
• Lucado, Max. Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Intended to Bear. W Publishing Group, 2001.
• “Requiem: VII. Lux aeterna (Thomas Harries, treble).” YouTube, uploaded by KingsCollegeChoir, 20 November 2015, https://youtu.be/JhIXqjo08Mk.
• The Story: Read the Bible as One Seamless Story from Beginning to End. Rev. ed., Zondervan, 2008.

Images:

• Grass and Sun featured image by Joe from Pixabay
• Green Grass image by Johannes Plenio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/green-grass-with-bokeh-lights-2957860/
• Sunset Clouds image by Joe from Pixabay
• Starry Sky image by Clement percheron: https://www.pexels.com/photo/dramatic-starry-sky-over-trees-peaks-at-night-5243591/
• Sunset Tree image by Joe from Pixabay