Listening to the winds of Hurricane Sandy brought this to mind just now. When Elijah was on the mountain in the cave hiding out of fear of Jezebel and her forces, a very tired possibly discouraged or despairing Elijah needed the reassurance that his God was more than a word on a scroll, greater than a hero in a story.
Elijah didn't seek out this reassurance, but his all knowing God in heaven knew Elijah's true need at that moment. It wasn't a hiding place from evil people - what he needed was a confirmation that his life spent as a prophet of God wasn't for nothin'. Wasn't just another life to be snuffed out by an enemy of Jehovah. Not a dot on the immensity of time, nor a mindless tool of a puppeteer god. No, an A grade was not what Elijah needed. God wanted Elijah to know that he was of more worth to God than all the rubies, gems, precious metals, any and all treasures ever to be seen by man. God gave him a gift of Himself. And this gift was given in an extraordinary way.
God brought him out onto the face of the mountain - an experience which was incredible in its own way - man against a mountain. Then God passed by Elijah! The New American Standard Version actually includes an exclamation point after that sentence - underscoring the significance of that moment. There was a great wind that ripped by Elijah - who was no doubt being protected in a supernatural way by God from this windstorm - it was so fierce it must have sounded like 10 x 10 times squared the roar I'm hearing outside my window now. The wind shattered and imploded parts of the rock face all around Elijah. He already knew God to be of infinite power and yet it was being demonstrated again. Then an earthquake occurred that shook the very foundation of the huge mountain, and still Elijah is protected and sees and experiences God's omnipotence first hand without a single bone being damaged! After the earthquake, a fire - a consuming force that could 'eat' its victims in a moment. God must have pushed Elijah back away from the fire into the mouth of the cave, for we next read that Elijah emerges from the cave again. Yet God did not make Himself known to Elijah in any of these all powerful occurrences. These were God's calling card, so to speak, to get Elijah's attention for the real encounter God would have with him. It was in an intimate whisper - a still small voice - that God made himself known to Elijah. God brought Elijah into a personal relationship with Himself, a moment in time like no other Elijah had known where he - a mere man - was allowed to commune with God. God saw through Elijah's fear, frustration, and despair, transporting him to a place of complete contentment that he would experience with God. From that point forward Elijah would grow in relationship with God in a special way until the time he would be taken up into heaven to never experience death like every other human has.
We often want God to make Himself known to us in big ways - a huge material blessing or a huge healing. And He may do that if that is His will and method for getting our attention. A whisper, though, requires one to get close enough to utter it and the hearer close enough to hear it. God chose to make Himself known to Elijah at this time in his life in such a way. It is always in a personal way that we come to best know God and experience who He truly is. We can experience the omnipotence of God in glorious and wondrous ways, yet the encounter God knows we need is a personal one with Him. So God still speaks in a 'still small voice, in a whisper', to his servants. He still sets as His ultimate goal for us a close, personal relationship with Him. His Spirit in us testifies to us of this intimacy. He whispers to us through His Word, in silent moments of meditation and prayer in which we are reassured of His presence in our life and circumstances. Obviously, His omnipotence is certainly representative in the thrashing of the winds and the copious downpours. Yet, it is the intimacy with Him that He seeks with us where we really 'see' God and know His love for us. A close and trusting relationship that we can count on for the rest of our lives. A true peace and joy that knows I am His and that I can enjoy His best for me forever.
God, I will praise you in this storm, for I know You and You know who I am. (borrowed from the hymn by Casting Crowns "Praise You in This Storm")
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Monday, October 29, 2012
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Sabbath Rest
It's less than two hours before midnight and I'm writing a post about sabbath rest. What does that tell you? God graced us with a period of rest on purpose - we need the un-wind, decompression, refocus and most of all physical rest. He did not make us to be a 24/7 machine. This principle applies universally - a need for adequate rest and refreshment of spirit. We are desperate for sabbath rest whether we admit it or not. Stress takes a chunk out of our lives, leaving us sometimes in emotional distress, and rushes us sooner than we would like to the grave. Our cognitive skills are strained and our bodies' organs must work overtime to compensate for how the stress is affecting us. We retain body fat when living in stress because the body reacts to stress relative to fat the way that squirrels react to the changing fall weather, storing up vittles for themselves. The body clings to the fat. Google "fat and stress" to see the results of research in that area. Scary.
I am one of those persons who needs to be busy. At least, that is what I have been for x# of years. Since I couldn't say no, and did not include sabbath rest in my schedule as a fixed event, it was only a matter of time before I hit the wall so to speak. It's not that I wasn't warned - I was warned countless times. You know -- 'you can't burn a candle at both ends,' 'even Jesus slept' (to which I have cynically replied inaudibly at least once, 'but He arose early'; tsk tsk), and - well, you've heard them all, too. See, sometimes us women of faith think that as long as we are doing ministry and keeping the home fires burning, God is going to keep us going even when we start to violate the parameters (we don't see it as violation - we see it as a failure or some kind of - dare I say it - lack of faith to reject or say no to new challenges that never ever end). I kept thinking, well, that probability of crashing is way off in the future, and besides, I'll be able to tell when I need to stop and wind down. Deception! Even after hitting the burnout phase, thinking that maybe one more year will be ok before I take a vacation or take time off to do nothing, and step down from the responsibility of those things outside of true life necessities (arrrgh - we even blur 'necessities'). An individual with this personality doesn't have guardrails that are reliable. We keep moving them so they have no permanency. Eventually, we will move and move and keep moving and never see the brick wall until it is 2 feet away.
I am a recovering workaholic trying to practice a sabbath rest that works in real time for me - time when I can relax, lay back, read, and not have to be anywhere or required to be doing something. And I don't mean vegetating before the TV necessarily. It's hard, though, to go from 200 mph to 0. Especially the time for exercise - well, I'm supposed to be a steward of my time so why don't I act like it? The reality is that very few of us women who are householders, moms, or business owners, working a night shift, engaged in ministries, and/or any combination of these and other life needs can take a full day 'off' each week. But can we schedule 2 hours two or three times a week that we fix into the calendar to take a sabbath for restoration of our spirits and bodies? If you are graced to do so, could you take a full day once a month or bi-monthly to do something outside of your routine to give yourself a fresh perspective? I won't disrespect anyone reading this and needing sabbath rest in their life to draw a picture of how to do this in 7 easy steps. Each of our circumstances are unique - unfortunately/fortunately, we have to work it out for ourselves in ways that fit our realities. Women of faith need sabbath times especially as an opportunity to commune with our Heavenly Father to strengthen that relationship.
Take the idea of sabbath rest to God in prayer asking Him to give you wisdom in this area of your life. Ask Him to bring into your life women from similar lifestyles and routines as yours who have learned to do sabbath rest so that they can show you how it may work in your life. Ask others to pray for you, too, that you will find a blessing in your effort to establish this in your routine as a way of life, and a way of thanksgiving to God. As the psalmist says boldly in his own stress in Psalm 30: "To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication. 'What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?' Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper ... you turn mourning into dancing; you take off my sackcloth and clothe me in joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent."
I will listen to my own exhortation and shut down the computer and dim the light. Time for rest.
I am one of those persons who needs to be busy. At least, that is what I have been for x# of years. Since I couldn't say no, and did not include sabbath rest in my schedule as a fixed event, it was only a matter of time before I hit the wall so to speak. It's not that I wasn't warned - I was warned countless times. You know -- 'you can't burn a candle at both ends,' 'even Jesus slept' (to which I have cynically replied inaudibly at least once, 'but He arose early'; tsk tsk), and - well, you've heard them all, too. See, sometimes us women of faith think that as long as we are doing ministry and keeping the home fires burning, God is going to keep us going even when we start to violate the parameters (we don't see it as violation - we see it as a failure or some kind of - dare I say it - lack of faith to reject or say no to new challenges that never ever end). I kept thinking, well, that probability of crashing is way off in the future, and besides, I'll be able to tell when I need to stop and wind down. Deception! Even after hitting the burnout phase, thinking that maybe one more year will be ok before I take a vacation or take time off to do nothing, and step down from the responsibility of those things outside of true life necessities (arrrgh - we even blur 'necessities'). An individual with this personality doesn't have guardrails that are reliable. We keep moving them so they have no permanency. Eventually, we will move and move and keep moving and never see the brick wall until it is 2 feet away.
I am a recovering workaholic trying to practice a sabbath rest that works in real time for me - time when I can relax, lay back, read, and not have to be anywhere or required to be doing something. And I don't mean vegetating before the TV necessarily. It's hard, though, to go from 200 mph to 0. Especially the time for exercise - well, I'm supposed to be a steward of my time so why don't I act like it? The reality is that very few of us women who are householders, moms, or business owners, working a night shift, engaged in ministries, and/or any combination of these and other life needs can take a full day 'off' each week. But can we schedule 2 hours two or three times a week that we fix into the calendar to take a sabbath for restoration of our spirits and bodies? If you are graced to do so, could you take a full day once a month or bi-monthly to do something outside of your routine to give yourself a fresh perspective? I won't disrespect anyone reading this and needing sabbath rest in their life to draw a picture of how to do this in 7 easy steps. Each of our circumstances are unique - unfortunately/fortunately, we have to work it out for ourselves in ways that fit our realities. Women of faith need sabbath times especially as an opportunity to commune with our Heavenly Father to strengthen that relationship.
Take the idea of sabbath rest to God in prayer asking Him to give you wisdom in this area of your life. Ask Him to bring into your life women from similar lifestyles and routines as yours who have learned to do sabbath rest so that they can show you how it may work in your life. Ask others to pray for you, too, that you will find a blessing in your effort to establish this in your routine as a way of life, and a way of thanksgiving to God. As the psalmist says boldly in his own stress in Psalm 30: "To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication. 'What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?' Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper ... you turn mourning into dancing; you take off my sackcloth and clothe me in joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent."
I will listen to my own exhortation and shut down the computer and dim the light. Time for rest.
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