When the work is to rest…
I braced myself for the inevitable answer: More work.
In fact, I was so convinced that’d be the answer that I even scribbled down a reminder to write a blog post entitled, “More work.” (Don’t you love how I try to teach myself a lesson in advance of God teaching me a lesson?)
The details don’t matter, but I went into this meeting ready for the big news: More work. And although I don’t mind work, I love what I do, but I was in the home stretch of retreat-speaking and homeschooling and the forecast was sunny skies and this girl could almost taste the sweetness of some lazy afternoons in the shade, watching the kids splash in the pool.
So I braced myself for the command: More work.
There really wasn’t any other possible outcome for this meeting.
Except for an impossible outcome that wasn’t anywhere near my radar. It was such a ridiculously outlandish outcome that I wouldn’t have thought it in a million years. And while it wasn’t necessary cause for a victory dance, the message to me was clear in this moment:
Right now your work is to rest.
Sure, I still have stuff to do. I still have life waiting at home for me, just like you. But what I thought was the dawn of another season of intensity, turned out to be the announcement of a different kind of season altogether: A season of rest. Some might call it waiting, but waiting implies a bit of anxiousness. I’m not anxious. I trust. God’s got this, and right now my work is to rest.
Sometimes that’s His Word for us: The work is to rest.
And … that’s the gospel.
When we trust in Jesus, we cease the work and enter the rest.
“To the one who does not work but trusts Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” (Rom 4:5)
“For there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His.” (Heb. 4:9-10)
There are Sabbath days and Sabbath seasons and Sabbath mindsets. Let us live with a Sabbath mindset, entering into the rest of trusting God’s finished work on the cross. There will be (many) days of intense labor ahead, but perhaps, for someone out there, this word is for you:
Today your work is to rest.
{Happy June! Thanks for reading.}
A simple approach to summer Bible Study
Which study should we do next? This is always the question that nags as we end each session of Bible Study. There are so many (glorious!) options, it can be overwhelming to choose. Should we do a Beth Moore video study? A topical book-study? A book-of-the-Bible Navigator’s study? Since I love to teach, I also enjoy creating and studying my own book-of-the-book study, then teaching each week and writing homework. This is very, very, very labor-intensive for me and while I love it, I have noticed that it requires MUCH of me and not much of those who attend. *smile*
But this spring we went an entirely different direction, and now I’m asking myself: Why have we never done this before?!!! I’m amazed how learning in community so powerfully draws out the richness of the biblical text, how each person’s perspective widens my own, how just studying Scripture is rekindling that lost love for the Word of God like nothing else has.
I feel silly “sharing” this “new” way to study the Bible because it’s not new at all. It’s ancient. Old. Simple. But somehow over the years I feel as though we‘ve been drunk on books and parched for the Word. [bctt tweet=”We’ve been drunk on books and parched for the Word.”]
Sure, I read my Bible through every year. I even write Bible studies and do study it on my own. But in terms of our corporate Bible studies, growing together, I feel like we’ve become so glutted with books about the Bible we’ve become starved for the actual Bible itself.
It’s a little scary to say those words, seeing how I write books about the Bible. *smile*
But I’d rather you read your Bible than read my books about the Bible.
So here’s what we’ve been doing: studying the Bible. Tada! Aren’t you impressed? Ok, all jokes aside, two groups of us gals have been gathering to study through the New Testament. Like, all of it. At our current rate it will take us 5 years, but hey–what else is there to do?! So we began in Matthew, and we covered 4 chapters a week. Matthew is 28 chapters long, so we covered it in 7 weeks. We added an introductory week at the beginning and the total was an 8-week study.
What I love is that you dear friend could easily gather a handful of gals this summer and use this same method on your own. No materials, no videos, no cost. Nothing. Just you and your Bible and a handful of friends in your living room.
Here’s briefly how it works: Let’s say there’s 8 of you and 28 chapters in the book. Two of you study one of the first 4 chapters (i.e. Two study chapter 1, two study chapter 2, two study chapter 3, two study chapter 4). A shorter book you could study slower (i.e. Philippians, with 4 chapters, you ALL could study each chapter, or even half a chapter, and cover the book in 5 weeks or 9 weeks, allowing for an intro week.) You use the same method (below) and all agree to devote just ONE HOUR each week, broken into 4 15-minute chunks. Anybody can find an hour a week—we easily waste that much time gawking at stuff on Facebook. Right?
Then, when we gather, each duo shares their process and discoveries from that week–their outline, cross-references and Aha! moments, insights and ways they want to see God work in their lives as a result of what they’ve learned. The entire group has read all 4 chapters, so discussion can take place, questions asked, insights shared. Everyone is involved, and if someone is having an off-week and struggled to finish the chapter (or can’t come for some reason), the others can cover for her, offer their insights. We learn in community.
The Word of God and the people of God. We need both. Perhaps this might be a simple way to wed the two and discover all over again the greatness of God’s holy Word.
{Happy studying! Thanks for reading.}
*Here are PDFs outlining the process and giving an example of what a week’s study might look like. Enjoy!
A long view of short prayers
I found the book last fall. Covered in brown fabric, the title inside the front cover is written in Sharpie: Prayers and Ponderings. 9/79 — 12/88. Nine years.
The prayers and ponderings are mostly short. Just 1-2 pages per month to determine the focused prayers and goals for that specific season. November 1979’s page includes a new prayer focus at the bottom:
Baby
That’d be me. Though I was no bigger than a bean, my mom was already praying for me.
Just below that is prayer for Cambodians, Russian Christians, hostages, and President Carter.
Nothing too small, nothing too big. She prayed.
And while there are many jotted notes here and there (PTL!, better :), promising!, house sold!, recovering!) most of these short prayers have a long view of God’s promises.
I believe I’m still reaping the benefits now, more than 35 years later.
My discouragement in prayer is most often due to not seeing quick answers. Certainly I do see some immediate answers, which serves as a spiritual shot-in-the-arm for my faith. But there’s no getting around that a great portion of our prayers requires a great willingness to wait for the fulfillment.
We must have a long view of prayer.
What encourages me about my mom’s prayer journal, is her consistency month after month, year after year. Other than my wedding ring, I don’t think I’ve kept any item for 9 years, let alone a journal! She kept this same journal for nine years. In this way you could see gradual changes over the years.
And I love that her prayers are rather simple, short. To the point.
Jesus made it clear: Prayers aren’t answered due to length or clever word-choice.
Prayers are answered when they’re prayed in humility and faith. Humility bows us low and alines our will with His will, faith is what leads us to reach up and grasp His will. Like the woman who crept low through the crowd to grasp the hem of his garment, we lower ourselves and reach out.
We take hold of His promises, we take hold of His power, we take hold of His provision.
Everything we need is available to us, through prayer.
My mom’s prayer journal is a beautiful example to me of a commitment to a long view of short prayers. What simple habit can you embrace that will help you do the same?
A few moments ago my phone alarm went off and the screen read: “Pray with Mom.” Every day it goes off at the same time. Every day I call. She answers, still groggy from sleep. We pray. It’s brief–just 5 minutes, but together we agree with God and reach out together for His promises, His power, His provision.
Together we take a long view of short prayers.
And my hope is that these short morning prayers last a long time. Because just as it is with exercise, parenting, and basically anything else worth doing–consistency is key. You may not pray for an hour, but if you pray for 5 minutes every single day, something glorious will happen in the long haul.
{Thanks for reading.}
A Memorial Forever {A creative way to remember)
Pass on before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.
(Joshua 4:5-7)
Happy Memorial Day. Last year today, we went to Willamette National Cemetery to see Crooked River Bob, that 90-some-year-old WWII veteran I met while out walking one day. Do you remember him? Crooked River Bob lived in an old rundown house with tarps over the windows, and he confided that his kids were always drinking and “cooking up stuff” in the kitchen. Oh dear. One day I went to see him and found the house all boarded up with a hazard notice on the door. There’d been a bust. I only pray that Crooked River Bob has better accommodations now–I have no idea where he is.
But this year, while still honoring our country’s veterans, we’re observing another sort of Memorial Day–a remembrance of the faithfulness of God.
The idea came from my friend Shawna. Some 15 years ago I noticed a large jar on their living room coffee table. The jar was filled with rocks, and each rock had a number on it. Next to the jar was a small journal. In this journal they remembered the faithfulness of God.
Each rock represented an answered prayer, a miracle, a provision, some situation where God came through and proved His power and love for their family. Each time something like that would happen, they’d add another rock, numbered. In the journal they kept a numbered list, so that anyone could come, pull out a rock, turn to that number, and read a story of God’s personal care for their family.
Just as the children of Israel were to gather stones so that when their children asked, “What do these stones mean to you?” they could relay the account of how God led them through the wilderness, faithfully providing for them, then parted the waters of the Jordan river so they could walk across into the Promised Land.
This was to be a Memorial Forever.
I wish I’d began a dozen years ago!
Better late than never.
So a few weeks ago, when Dutch and I were having a mommy-son weekend, we spent an afternoon down at the river, and I gathered the rocks. Then I briefly wrote out accounts of some of the major miracles and ways God has provided for our family and answered prayers over the years. I started with the 13 that stick out to me the most, but I’m sure there are hundreds I’ve forgotten (that’s why we NEED to write them down!). Hopefully, now that we’ve started we’ll be more diligent to do just that. (I’ll need a bigger jar too as you can see, but I figured we can upgrade as our rock-pile grows! A friend gave me the jar, a perfect reminder that He does hear and He does answer.)
So today we are remembering the faithfulness of God. We do honor and remember our veterans. I am proud to be an American. But even more, I honor and remember our faithful God. I am glad to be His child.
{Happy Memorial Day. Thanks for reading.}