Sabbath Thought - Weary

Being tired is almost a given in our modern culture.  Economists say that lack of sleep costs the U.S. economy more than $400 billion per year.  The possibility of early death is nearly twice as high for those who get less than 6 hours of sleep a night compared to those who sleep more than 6 hours a night.  Research has shown that sleep-deprived brains lose the ability to make accurate judgments.  Other consequences of a lack of proper sleep are skin aging, increased risk of stroke, heart disease, obesity, and brain neuron damage.

It has been about a month since we came before God to worship Him during the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day.  One of the blessings of those Holy Days is simply being able to step away from our hectic lives for more than a week, during which time we can recharge and be rejuvenated.

But we are back home and back into the frantic pace of life.  In the last number of decades, businesses have moved to being available any time of day for their customers - open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  While physical business locations are increasingly embracing this business model, it is especially the reality of internet based businesses.  Even businesses that are not 24/7 have order fulfillment moving to shorter and shorter turnarounds.  For workers this means work with very little time to pause.  Commute times are increasingly longer, workloads are larger, stress in general impacts health more and more.

If we are not careful, this state of being tired can negatively impact our spiritual life.  God showed the prophet Daniel in vision the world we live in now.  "Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished," (Daniel 12:7, NKJV).  We are not yet in the time of tribulation, but Satan is certainly working on shattering the power of God's people.  Are we then simply at Satan's mercy?

No.  God has promised never to leave or forsake us (1 Corinthians 13b), so we are not to lose heart (Luke 18:1).  But, we are not to allow weariness to take our crown (Galatians 6:9).  We cannot change the culture around us, but we do have our relationship with the God of the universe and He has given to us the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).  This day was designed to be a day of rest (Hebrews 4:9-11) so let us be diligent to enter that rest.

Satan certainly seeks to shatter the power of God's people, "But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you," (1 Peter 5:10, NKJV).  We can't do much about the pace of the culture around us, but should never forget the power of our God and the blessing He gives us in His Sabbath - to perfect, establish, strengthen and settle us.

I wish you a spiritually rejuvenating Sabbath,

Dan Dowd

15 November, 2019