The Joy of the Lord

Yesterday, as I was thinking about a word of rest for the weekend the word that came to mind was enjoy.  It set me to searching for Scripture about enjoying God.

I came across this passage in Nehemiah and was moved.

The priest, Ezra, has been reading the Book of the Law to the people of Israel who have returned from exile to Jerusalem.  As Ezra reads the people enter into worship.  They weep as they listen to the words of the Law.  Then, the governor, Nehemiah proclaims this as a holy day.  He tells them:

“Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.  This day is holy to our Lord.  Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 NIV

What struck me was that on a day holy to the Lord, they are instructed to enjoy food and drink.  They are to enjoy the goodness of God.  They are to be generous.  And out of this Nehemiah says, “The joy of the LORD is your strength.”

It is joy in the Lord as we rest that is our strength for the times where we work.

Isn’t that amazing?

So, this weekend…

Enjoy the Lord. 

Celebrate His goodness.

Generously share that which He has given you.

May joy in Him be your strength for the week to come.

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we live knowing that the joy of the LORD is our strength.

Jessica :)

A Weekend Retreat

This weekend, I will be attending A Time of Refreshment retreat.  I am looking forward to a time and place that is set apart for women to come and meet with God.  It is a time of worship, silence and solitude, and celebrating what He speaks to us in our time with Him. 

As I think of this, I recall the sweet time with Him last year. 

The fruit? 

This poem and a refreshed heart.

I wake early

To come away

To meet with You.

I sit and savor slowly—words.

“Look.”  “Ask.”

So I journey with eyes wide and senses ready.

To see what I would see.

Camera in hand, I walk to capture ready beauty.

And I find—

Sinking softly in earth, crunching loudly through fallen leaves,

Meandering slow through grassy field, sliding swiftly down hillside,

Standing still at water’s edge

When my attention is caught

As I delight

I am able to see that which is just out of sight—

From mushroom to hidden seed

Down ancient paths, I am led to the foot of the cross

I journey

And as I “Look”

As I “Ask” to see

I find in my own looking—without Your focus

I am blind.

  

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we find a time and a place to spend time with God.  Whether the time is short or long; whether the place is in the midst of nature or in the laundry room may it be sweet because He meets us there.  May we savor His presence and walk in step with Him out from that place refreshed.

Jessica :)

Rest with Him

“Rest.  Rest.  Rest in God’s love.  The only work you are required now to do is to give your most intense attention to His still, small voice within.”  -Madame Jeanne Guyon*

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we rest in God’s love and respond to the ways He invites us to follow Him into it.

Jessica :)

*I discovered this quote as I was reading Richard Foster’s book Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home. 

This photo is thanks to my dear husband, Jason.

All Shabbat

As I pull out Settings of Silver to make sure my memory is remembering the prayer and blessing rituals of the Sabbath correctly, I pause to read a little bit.  I scan over the familiar and find myself swallowing hard and my pulse beating a little faster as I read hopeful words that I don’t remember at all.

“There is saying that the Messiah will not come on Shabbat because he is already here.  The Time of the Messiah is described as one that will be “all Shabbat.”  As Shabbat departs there is hope that the Messiah will come and the Shabbat will not have to end” (126).

The time of the Messiah “all Shabbat?”  When Messiah comes Shabbat will never end?

My mind is racing. 

I begin thinking about how the central claim of the gospel is that Jesus is Messiah.  He is the fulfillment of God’s prophecies and promises to Israel and it is His resurrection that validates His authority as such. 

I think about the words on the page in front of me. 

The time of the Messiah will be “all Shabbat.”  When Messiah comes Shabbat will not have to end.

I think instead:  The time of Jesus will be “all Shabbat.”  When Jesus comes Shabbat will not have to end.

I begin to wonder about this.

In the Gospels, Jesus does a lot of healing on the Sabbath.  Jesus even calls himself “Lord of the Sabbath.”

Could there be something in the midst of all of these words that is very real and present and available to me now?

Luke writes:

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.  Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?  He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat.  And he also gave some to his companions.”  Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Luke 6:1-5 NIV

In the Pharisees eyes the disciples were clearly breaking at least two of the thirty-nine categories of work.  The disciples were reaping, by picking grain.  They were, also, threshing by rubbing the grain.  The Pharisees saw them working on the Sabbath, which was a big no-no especially for the disciples of a rabbi.  So they question Jesus about it. 

Jesus responds to them in an interesting way.  He talks about David eating the consecrated bread.  In  doing so, David violated not the Sabbath law, but a different law.  Then, he goes on to tell them “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

The Son of Man is a term Jesus frequently uses of himself.  It is a phrase that is used in the Old Testament and would have had a particular connotation with the Messiah.  The prophet Daniel writes, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.  He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.  He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him.  His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).  This Messiah has power and authority that has been given to him by God.

The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

In a commentary about Luke, Leon Morris writes, “In the Gospels Son of man invariably refers to Jesus.  He is surely referring to His Messianic function.  It may be significant that this follows a reference to David’s action.  It is the Son of David who is Lord.  If David could override the law without blame, how much more could the much greater Son of David do so?” (123).

I find this very interesting.  Jesus, as the son of David, the Messiah, is claiming authority over the Sabbath. 

In Mark, the Lord of the Sabbath tells the Pharisees, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.” 

There is a sharp contrast between the Pharisees and Jesus here.  Alan Cole writes, “[The Pharisees] had […] quite forgotten that in origin the Sabbath was God’s merciful provision for man. […]  If the Sabbath was made for man’s spiritual and physical good, and not vice versa, then the Son of man is Master of the Sabbath and can interpret its regulations with reference to need” (Commentary on Mark, 74).

By interpreting the Sabbath with reference to need,  in contrast to the way the Pharisees had determined needs, by categories of work, Jesus seems to suggest he understands need better than they.  Their way of celebrating the Sabbath creates burden.  His celebration of the Sabbath leads to blessing.  This appears to be what is important. 

Jesus heals many on the Sabbath.  Each time it raises the anger of the Pharisees.  Each time it blesses the one who is healed.  As he does so Jesus, lives as Lord of the Sabbath—each act seeming to indicate “He regarded the Sabbath as his by right.” (Commentary on Mark, 74)

All this makes me think Jesus knew something the Pharisees didn’t about rest.

In the verses just prior to calling himself Lord of the Sabbath in Matthew, Jesus says:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

 

Jesus invites all who are tired to come and find rest.  He tells them it is by taking His yoke and learning from Him that they will find rest for their souls.  It is almost like he is saying that rest is available now.  It is through Him that rest comes.

Could it be that Jesus was saying that the time of the Messiah had come?  Was he inviting the people toward a Sabbath that will not end?  Could it be that in obedience to Christ rest is found?  Could it be that no matter where I am or what I am doing I can find rest through reliance on Him?

I think that rest from activity is important.  God has created us that way.  This is Sabbath as I usually talk about it. 

Yet, I think that there is a different kind of rest that comes when we realize that we don’t have to make the big decisions in our lives alone.  We can surrender them and find rest.  Christ will make them and we will find rest by letting him lead and following obediently.  We can begin living “all Shabbat.”

It is after I get this that the first line of the Settings of Silver quote makes sense to me.  "The Messiah will not come on Shabbat because he is already here." 

Jesus is here, ready and waiting for us to come.

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we come to the Lord of the Sabbath seeking to live under the yoke of Christ.  May we find that when we walk in step with Him, we find rest even in the middle of the busiest of days.  May we find that Sabbath can be found in His presence.

Jessica :)

A Special Way

I am not sure when the weekend became a time to unplug from the digital world for me, but it has. 

On the weekend, I don’t check the blogs I follow.  I don’t check my email.  I don’t get on Facebook. 

(Okay, occasionally I will get on the computer to check an address for the dinner we’re headed to, or to double check the time I said I would meet someone.  But this is the exception, and other than that, I am unplugged.)

I don't remember when I began this habit, but I do remember why I decreased my use of technology on the weekend.  I wanted a break from the feeling that a minute had become an hour. 

I wanted to create space in my life for important things—like real conversation, exploring the fun events going on in the world around me, invest in my relationship with Jason, and slow down to take notice of all the good things that God has given me. 

I wanted to find rest in Him.

For me the practice of disconnecting has led to real Sabbath. 

I leave behind the crazy pace of the online world and slow to the pace of the one I live in. 

This practice is one that I use to “honor” the Sabbath.

One of the four words that is used about the Sabbath in Scripture is kevod.  It means to honor or to set something apart as special.

It is found in the Isaiah passage I mentioned last week, when talking about the word delight.

“If you  keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

     and from doing as you please on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight

     and the LORD’s day honorable,

and if you honor it by not going your own way

     and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the Lord.”    Isaiah 58:13-14 NIV

My Judaism professor talked about how there is joy in things that are reserved for a special occasion.

When he said this, it brought to mind pulling out the “You are loved” plate for birthdays and special occasions in my family.  I always looked forward to those moments of finding this special plate set on the table in my place or pulling it out to set before my family members.  I was so excited when a friend gave one of these plates to me at a wedding shower.  It meant I could continue to honor loved ones in my home the way we did when I was growing up.

For me unplugging is a little bit like this—a special ritual I practice on the Sabbath.

As I revisit this particular Sabbath maxim, it makes me wish I had other special ways of celebrating Sabbath rest.  I think of what I learned about the Jewish Shabbat—the way they welcome the Sabbath with lit candles and blessings over one another.  I think these special ways of the Sabbath are beautiful.

I want to share with you a little taste of this through “Sabbath Prayer” from Fiddler on the Roof.

Notice the way the families welcome the Sabbath in such a special way.  Drink in the blessings of the song.  And this weekend when you begin your Sabbath rest, perhaps you will remember and begin by celebrating in a special way.

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we seek to honor God, the maker and giver of rest.  May we find special ways to mark the occasion and find joy in celebrating this special gift.

Jessica :)

Are We Having Fun Yet?

I am bent over a basket, pulling out my warm white clothes into a mound, soon to be folded.  As I do, a man I have never seen enters the laundry room and purchases a few drinks from the vending machine.  Then, with his arms full of bottles he asks me a question.

“Are we having fun, yet?” 

“Excuse me?”  I reply looking up at him.

“Are we having fun, yet?” he repeats.

I look at him puzzled, and respond, “Um sure.”   

Is this some new way of greeting people?  If it is, I’ve never heard it before.

He tells me, “I try to stay as far away from the laundry as possible.”

I nod and say “Oh” just before he exits the laundry room.

I pick up my basket and follow him out.

He is standing with a co-worker as they wait for an elevator.  I wait near them, arms full, as they talk with one another, before the man who spoke with me turns to walk down the hallway toward the front of the building. 

His co-worker waits beside me.  When the door opens, he allows me to carry my basket onto the elevator, before he joins me.

I ask, “Would you push two, please?”

He hits five and follows with two, saying “Sure.”

The next words from his mouth are the same as his co-worker.

“Are we having fun yet?”

I pause at the oddity of it.  “Yes?  I mean, sure.  I like when my laundry gets done.  I mean, I like having it all neatly in the closet.”  I manage weakly.

Where did these people come from?  Are you having fun yet?  Is this some sort of creed or mantra?  I really am confused.  I shuffle off the elevator and sincerely wish the man a wonderful day.

As I walk down the hallway toward my apartment, I chuckle at it.  Am I having fun?

Wasn’t my prayer as I walked toward my laundry that I would have some words about rest for today?  Did God not answer my prayer in their words? 

“Are we having fun?” Their words are rather similar to what God was saying to Israel through the prophet Isaiah. 

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

     and from doing as you please on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight

     and the LORD’s holy day honorable,

and if you honor it by not going your own way

     and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the LORD,

     and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land

     and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.  (Isaiah 58:13-14 NIV)

 

God is saying I want you to be authentic.  I want you to care about the things I care about.  I want you to enjoy me.  I want you to have fun.  You call my Sabbath a delight, live as such.

In my Judaism class in college we talked about a Hebrew word for the Sabbath that Jews use.  It is oneg.  It means to delight.  This is the word used here.  The Sabbath is to be filled with that which is enjoyable and restful.  It is a time to celebrate and give thanks for the blessings God has given. 

God’s words in Isaiah 58 tell Israel that they are going through the motions.  They say that God is important, but they do not value the things that He values and so their actions are empty.   He wants them to begin responding to Him and living in a way that will bring them life.  He wants them to truly delight in the Sabbath and rest in Him.

He invites me to do the same.

It is Labor Day weekend, a time the country stops to rest in celebration of the work that has been done.  It is a time where I will have a chance to spend some additional time responding to this Sabbath question, “Are we having fun yet?” 

I can hear God asking me.  I think about the friends that I will be spending time with this weekend, the anniversary I will be celebrating Sunday, the freedom to fill up the time with the delightful and life-giving things that bring real joy in Christ.  I think about this moment and the opportunity to respond to life as a gift or life as tedious task.  I choose gift.

I hear God calling out “Are we having fun yet?”

I respond, “Why, yes. I think we are.”

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we seek to delight in the Lord and enjoy him.  May we find that we are full of gratitude for His gifts and that we have blessing to heap upon those whose lives are difficult.  May we find that Labor Day is an opportunity for continued rest. 

Jessica :)

Observe the Rhythm

I am settling into my seat after the music set at Crossroads.  I pull out my catch-all journal and a pen from my stash.  I flip to the right page and write the date. 

Then I sit expectantly. 

I have been looking forward to hearing Mike Breen speak since I heard him, for the first time last week.  I wonder what he will have to say about “The Good Life” today.  He takes the stage and says, in his British way, he wants to talk about the rhythm of rest that God has woven right into creation. 

I smile to myself, thinking, “I’ve been reflecting on that lately.” 

I’m curious to see what he will say. 

He calls rest an essential rhythm of the good life.

He tells of how work that doesn’t come from rest leads me to believe that change depends on me and not on God.  It leads to anxiety.  It leads to frustration.  It doesn’t lead to fruitfulness.

I find this quite interesting. While I have made the connection that rest leads to energized work, productive work, and life-giving work, I have not associated rest with fruitfulness in my work. 

It makes sense, though.

Mike goes on to describe how we can see this rhythm of rest in the life of Jesus and in the Bible.

He reads John 15, one of my favorite passages of Scripture. 

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing that you are my disciples.”  John 15:4-8 NIV

Then as he finishes, Mike begins to trace the rhythm of rest that God set in place right from the beginning.

He takes us back to Genesis and God’s words to man and woman in the garden, “Be fruitful.”

We were designed to be fruitful.

Mike points out the order of events in creation.  Man is created on the sixth day. 

Then, he calls attention to the seventh day.

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his word.  Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” Genesis 2:2-3 NIV

The first day man lives, they enjoy rest.  We rest before we ever work.

We enjoy our creator.  And then we work. 

This is the rhythm of the good life. 

This is the rhythm of fruitfulness.

I had never considered this before.  Yet, it makes so much sense.

We hop forward to the commands God gives to Israel. 

In the Ten Commandments, we find the command to observe the Sabbath. 

Mike explains that if God puts the command to rest on par with other commands like “Do not kill” and "do not steal" and "do not commit adultery"  it must be important.

I think I begin to understand the reason he says it over and over again in the Law.  “Observe the Sabbath.”

Observe is the word used most in connection with the Sabbath throughout the Old Testament.  I learned this in my Judaism class in college.  In Hebrew, the word is “Shamor.”  It means “to keep,” in the sense of tending and taking care, watching over or giving attention to. 

The teachers of the Law, in Israel, responded to this command by denoting 39 categories of work.  They wanted to be sure they did not fail to observe the Sabbath.  I don't blame them.  There was a high penalty for breaking the command.  While I do not think God was surprised by this development, I'm not sure this is really what he intended when he gave them this command.

I certainly could be wrong, but I wonder if death, as a penalty for breaking the Sabbath, might actually be an act of  mercy.  Because who can really work endlessly without rest?  When we do, aren't those the times when we wish we could just die to escape the work and the heaviness we feel under it? 

We need rest to have a full life.  We need to be filled up by the one who gives us life.

For me, as I read the Hebrew definition, what comes to mind is the idea of caring for the Sabbath, of creating space to rest with God, the one who initiates it. 

I read these words in Exodus:

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths.  This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.”  Exodus 31:12-13 NIV

I hear God inviting me to come.

I hear Him saying “Keep the rhythm of fruitfulness.  Rest and spend time with me.  Let me prune away that which will not bear fruit.  Let me remind you of who I am.  Let me remind you of who you are.  Let me refresh you.”

Can you hear him calling you to rest with Him?

Let’s observe the Sabbath, partaking in this rhythm of rest, that we might bear fruit.

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we take up the rhythm of rest that God has for us.  May we find that we are refreshed in Him.  May we discover that he bears fruit in us as we remain connected to the vine.

Jessica :)

P.S.  If you would like to listen to or watch Mike Breen's messages from "The Good Life" series at Crossroads, I recommend both.  You can find them here (weeks 4 and 5).

...reposted from the archives

I Must Rest

The feeling had been growing for awhile, but it was not until the school year had ended and I was trying to gear up for the Jr. High summer program at church that I began to realize how exhausted I was. 

I had just finished a year packed with activity—working fifteen hours or more weekly as the Interim Jr. High Director in the church family where I grew up; babysitting, several times a month; attending two semesters of 18 credit hours worth of classes.  The classes were of the field work and curriculum development variety; and this was on top of the normal reading, exams and papers.  In the midst of all this, I also began dating my good friend. (He's my is my husband today, in case you were curious.) 

I loved all of it, but it was exhausting.

I was able to keep all of this up for a semester before I started to notice something was wrong. 

To get it all done, I had to work on something nearly all the time.  I would wake up and go to class.  I would finish class and work on reading for my other classes or research for papers in the library.  If I didn’t have these things to do, I would pull out a book to read for fun or often I would have something I was planning for the Jr. High program.  When I went home I would work on larger projects and papers.  It got to be so that the time I spent with God was funneled into preparation for Jr. High events. 

What I didn’t realize at the time was when you give all you have and you don’t stop to rest, you slowly dry up until there is nothing left to give.

As summer came, I began to realize I was running on fumes. I was so thankful to have a wonderful intern working with me.  It helped.  I made it through summer. 

Fall came and school started again.  It was in the midst of full time student teaching, working, dating, and trying to do it all that I realized I couldn’t do it anymore.  If I continued to try, something important would be treated as though it was not important—a bunch of students, my boyfriend, or my grades.  I finished out the end of the semester and resigned the interim role. 

By God’s grace, I think it was one of the best choices I have ever made.  My grades didn’t tank.  The youth program got a better more permanent director.  I was able to focus what little energy I had on finishing school well.  However, it didn’t get easier.  In fact, the next semester, school got harder.  One thing did change.  My time in Scripture and calling out to God was just for me.  I was trying to rest in Him again. 

It was after I graduated that life slowed down enough to really recover from the crazy pace of life I had kept for nearly a year and a half.  In the midst of making wedding invitations and watching World Cup soccer there was finally time to rest my body. 

It was hard, though.  It was hard to try to reclaim the rhythms of sleep.  It was hard to return to the discipline of reading Scripture.  I found it difficult to connect to what the Bible was saying, whereas once I was able to drink it in and be refreshed.  I did it anyway, even if it was just a verse or two.  I was clinging to the idea that what had captured my heart once, might capture it again. 

During that time, it was the kindness of others, inside my family and the larger family of Christ, which encouraged me and kept me believing in a good God.  It was through these people that I was best able to see God speaking to my aching heart when life around me seemed so bleak.

Months passed by before I realized the heaviness of heart I experienced for so long had begun to retreat.  Scripture began to speak to my spirit again.  Life began to feel good--full of possibilities and enough energy to meet them with joy.

Rest had begun to do its work.  It happened slowly, but steadily. 

I began to realize this and recognized that my exhaustion had come largely due to my failure to rest. 

I learned from this season in my life.  I don’t think I would ever choose to return.  Yet, it taught me a lesson I would never wish to forget.  I cannot work endlessly.  I must rest.

God has made us to work from our rest.

Let’s take time this weekend to do the things that God uses to feed our souls.  Let’s rest in Him.

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance.  As we rest may we find new energy for the work ahead of us; discover new excitement about the tasks ahead; and find the creative places in our hearts are filled to overflowing.

Jessica :)

P.S.  Thank you to my dear husband for letting me use his photo.  He shot the rush of traffic so well while we were in Rome a few years ago.  It was definitely my favorite from the trip.  The movement of the photo made me think of the speed of life I was trying to describe today.