Reminded By Rest
Opening Prayer
God, I trust You. Teach me who You are through Your Word.
Read Exodus 31:12–18
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
The Sabbath
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, 13 “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.
14 “‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. 15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. 16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
18 When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Think about what is on your to-do list. Do you trust God with these things? Do you trust God enough to take a day off?When God gave the Ten Commandments he was clear that Israel must honor the Sabbath (cf. Exod. 20:8–11). Here God reiterates that same instruction for those who are busy with preparing the Tabernacle.
The Sabbath, the weekly day of rest, was a day of separation, identification and trust. Stopping work for a whole day separated the people of Israel from all others around them.
Stopping work also identified them with God who had created in six days, but rested on day seven. Stopping work for a day was ultimately an act of trust. It was a way to declare trust in God to work out his purposes, rather than continually striving to achieve ours.
Today we may honor a particular day, or we may not, but the Sabbath principle remains. Do we trust God enough to stop our striving and to rest? What we do with our lives also reflects our spiritual state—are we trusting Christ with our salvation, are we resting in him (cf. Heb. 4:3)?
Apply
Are you stressed as you strive in your work, even your work for God? Choose rest in God—choose to trust God with your tasks.
Closing prayer
Instead of deep prayer today, take time to rest in what Christ has done. Thank the Lord for the gift of rest.
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