Grant Partrick shares the importance of slowing down and stopping so that we can run at God’s pace for our lives. In our rest, we can learn to increase our dependence on Him.
Key Takeaway
Sabbath is not a ritual to be endured but an opportunity to enjoy God.
There is a tendency to fill all of the empty space on our calendars and not deal with the emptiness or weariness of our souls.
But God has given us a great opportunity to rest in Him. It's not just to unplug from everything but to plug into Him and refresh, worship, and remember Him, remembering everything He has done in our lives. He's inviting you to come away with Him and be refreshed in Him.
Our hearts are calibrated and aligned to God through sabbath—through resting in God.
If we don't take time for God, we will wear out faster, we won't go as fast, and we will begin to drift and pull in different directions. Rest may be difficult, but the other option is dangerous.
A full calendar can symbolize importance and significance in life, but a full calendar with an empty soul doesn't serve anyone well and doesn't impress God.
Not being able to stop will cause you bumps and bruises, but not being able to stop in life will cost you everything.
Sabbath wasn't about restriction, rules, and restrictions; it was meant to refresh us. It wasn't meant to be a burden; it was meant to be a blessing.
God has woven rest into our story.
The first thing in the text that was made holy was the seventh day. God didn't rest because He was worn out and tired; He rested because He knew we would be tired.
He wants us to rest and depend on Him.
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Through sabbath and through resting in Him, it is revealed who or what we're trusting in.
It's one thing to say you trust God, and another to actually trust God before the battle.
We are not looking inward for our strength; we are looking upward.
The only place your trust can reside and be secure is in Him.
Sabbath is an act of faith and a sign of trust.
If you have to work seven days a week around the clock, it's likely that your trust is in yourself and not in God. God invites us into a more peaceful life than that.
'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,and to take him at his word;
just to rest upon his promise,
and to know, "Thus saith the Lord."
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him!
How I've proved him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust him more!
We will shift from self-reliance to gospel-dependence.
Everything we are and everything we have is from Him.
A refusal to rest is a declaration of independence.
It's easy to look at our accomplishments and think we earned them. But we have them because of God.
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1. Our performance doesn't determine our position with God.
It's based on Jesus' performance, a finished work on the cross that leads to an invitation as sons and daughters of the king.
2. Our contribution doesn't determine our value.
Our value doesn't go down if we stop working.
If you believe that if you slow down or stop, you won't have a spot at His table, then it's likely you believe you were able to gain and earn a spot in the first place, which you weren't.
3. He wants to remind us of His faithfulness in our lives.
We can all be forgetful.
There is so much noise, and there are so many distractions and things that keep our attention and affection off of Him.
We are forgetting what God did and moving on to the next thing. But we must remember how God has come through in the past to give us more confidence in the future.
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God has never failed, so lift your head. Take hope and take heart.
He is extending this gracious invitation to slow down and enjoy Him.
"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." - John Piper
We feel distant from God because we are trying to run ahead and get Him to follow our pace. But God isn't in a rush.
If we want to move with God, we have to slow down. He isn't pacing back and forth, wondering what's going to happen. He is seated on a throne, ruling and reigning, in control of it all.
There is no need for you to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. Come and find rest in Him.
May we be a church refreshed and filled with joy as we trust fully, depend totally, and remember gratefully all the things the Lord has done for us.
Discussion Questions
- Have you been using a full calendar to avoid your emptiness?
- Where is your trust?
- When you wake up in the morning, where do your attention and affection go first? What does this reveal about you?
- What are the areas your mind is worrying about? How can you trust those areas to God?
- Have you been working to earn your seat at the table with God? How so?
- Do you believe that if you don't stop, you won't be valuable? Why?
- What are the loudest things in your life right now?
- How can you work on stopping more often in your life to create space for God and slow down?
- Have you been carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders? Read Psalm 55:2. How does this verse give you peace?
- How would you describe Jesus in one word?
Scripture References
