“There’s a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12
When the children of Israel were locked in Egyptian oppression, they couldn’t understand the concept of rest.
Generation after generation was indoctrinated with a mentality that if you stop, you die. You were born to produce and only useful if you could make things according to the pharaoh’s never-ending plans.
This was the right way.
The known way.
Even though it was wrong.
Is any of this feeling a little too familiar?
When God led His people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, He led them into a completely different rhythm of life.
He invited them to work from a place of rest.
He provided for them supernaturally and taught them a way of living that required them to take at least one day off a week.
Why did He require it?
Because He knew that for hundreds of years, they had been ingrained to work, work, work. They were carrying heavy emotional baggage, cultural adaptations, and environmental rhythms that identified them as slaves, not sons.
God knew that if He didn’t require a sabbath rest, they would never fully embrace it.
Culturally, and physically they had been driven to produce. There was a constant whip at their back, driving them to make more, build more, and produce more.
I wonder how many of us are driven by an unhealthy theoretical whip?
How many pastors are driven by performance?
How many global workers are so driven by appearance that they’ve neglected their First Love?
How many Christian business leaders are so driven by doing for the Kingdom that they forget to be with the King?
In various seasons, I’ve been guilty of all of the above, driven by whips of performance, appearance, and doing more, each detrimental to my life.
And maybe you have too.
But true love doesn’t whip.
We can easily take the environments we grew up in and our God-given abilities and turn them into broken obsessions to produce more, get more, and make more.
Can you name your whip? Do you know where it comes from? And can you turn around and confront it?
Our global oasis locations offer R.E.S.T. (Retreat, Encouragement, Safety, Transformation) and can be a catalytic moment to unpack past hurts, process current challenges, and walk into the future with great courage.
Without any whips at your back. Because when you name them, they start to lose their power.
I’m praying that our eyes will be opened and that we will see ourselves as God sees us. That we will break free from prisons of unnecessary hurry and live in a newfound freedom that sees rest as an invitation, not an obligation.
You are more than your work.
You are more than what you produce.
You are more than what you make.
You are invited to enter into the refreshing rest of a loving God.
Thousands of years after the exodus a man walked into a temple in Nazareth, stood up, and unrolled a scroll.
“He came to Nazareth where he had been raised. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written, God’s Spirit is on me; he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, “This is God’s time to shine!”
That same man asks you now:
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.”
Together, may we learn how to enter the rest of God for the rest of our lives.
Benediction
Heavenly Father, because I am your son, because I am your daughter, when I am tired, when I am worn out, and when I’m burned out, I will come to you. I trust you will show me how to walk with you and how to work with you. Teach me the unforced rhythms of grace, and lead me into real rest with you.
Meditation
“Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Matthew 11:28-30 MSG