One of the Surest Proofs of Freedom

Suggested Reading: Deuteronomy 5:12-15

I recently watched an episode of Stargate SG-1 where the entire team really needed to take some time off but no one really wanted to take it. Only when the team was accidentally addicted to an alien device and they were forced to spend three weeks in a palace on an alien beach being weaned off of the addictive device did they relent and take some forced "time-off." If you’re anything like me or my wife, you probably know exactly what that situation is like. We often push ourselves too far and only end up taking time off when something takes us out of the game, usually an illness that could have been avoided by more rest. While laying in bed sick, unable to do anything productive, the statement is usually made, "Well, I guess this is God's way of telling me to slow down."

Time-off is often something we think of as a privilege, as something we have earned once everything that needs to be accomplished has been. Variations of the statement "There will be plenty of time to rest once I die" abound. But rest is not only a very Biblical concept, it is a command.

In the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, God gives the Israelites two distinct reasons for observing a day of rest, a Sabbath every seven days. The first reason is given in Exodus 20:11: For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (NIV).God provided the example for us to follow in God's own work of creation.  Many of us are aware of this reasoning and many of us dismiss it.  "That was God, we can't get things done like he can." "We're no longer under the law." And so on and so forth.

But there is a second reason God gives to the Israelites for observing a regular day of rest in Deuteronomy 5:15. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day (NIV).  God's second reason for observing a regular day of rest essentially boiled down to, "It reminds you that you are free because God has redeemed you." 

Rest is not a priority for which a slave can set aside time. Rest is not a luxury a slave can count on. However, rest can be a sign that one is free in a world where too many of us are slaves to schedules and bills and obligations. No matter how bogged down we may feel, no matter how many weights may push us down, God commands a day of rest so that we can be reminded that we are free, so that we can practice being free.

The next time you decide that you are unable to have a day of rest, think about your freedom. What are you choosing to be enslaved by? What is keeping you from taking a day of rest? Are  you acting like a slave or will you practice being free? 

Battling the Waves with Sleep Inducing Parasites

Suggested Reading: Mark 6:35-50

There is a tenth season episode of Stargate SG-1 where the team encounters a parasite that stimulates the parts of the brain that induce sleep. The parasite fed off of the chemicals the body produces during sleep. Due to the parasite's nature, once a victim fell asleep, they never woke up, so the team had to struggle to stay awake over a course of several days while a parasite was stimulating their brain to make them need to sleep. They took stimulants, drank coffee and tag-teamed each other trying to stay awake. One of the most impressive things about the episode was how sleepy each of the actors managed to appear.

We've all been really tired at some point or another and the longer you go, the more you just want to sleep. You don't want to eat. You don't want to talk. You just want to sleep. Mark chapter 6 shows the disciples in just such a state. They had all just returned from their missionary training adventures and were reporting to Jesus but the crowds were so great (apparently their missions had been successes) that they couldn't even eat or rest.  So Jesus had them get in a boat and sail a distance away to avoid the crowds.

When they reached the other shore, word had already spread and crowds were waiting on them. Jesus ended up teaching them so long that the disciples suggested he send them away before they fainted from hunger. Instead, we got the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand.  When that was done, Jesus sent the disciples away in the boat to rest while he dismissed the crowds. Before returning to the disciples, Jesus spent some time in prayer on a mountain. Then, "he saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost" (Mark 6:48-49, HCSB). The fourth watch was between 3:00 & 6:00 am.

So these disciples, who were already exhausted, spent the entire night rowing, battling the wind. But that moment, when they were exhausted, weak, and at the very end of their strength, is when they saw Jesus walking on the water and when, according to Matthew's account, Peter actually got to walk on water himself (Matthew 14).

You may be very exhausted right now.  You may be at the end of your rope with no more energy to do anything. You may be on the point of giving up because you don't have the strength to do anything but quit. But when we are at our weakest is when God tends to do big things.  No matter how tired you are, hang in there. You never know when God is going to show you something miraculous.

Petty, Immature Oxygen Molecules

Suggested Reading: Jeremiah 7:16-19

Probably my favorite science fiction franchise is the Stargate franchise. Stargate SG-1, the first television series in the franchise, explored the dynamic of aliens who claimed to be gods and demanded that people worship them. Toward the end of the series, the good guys had to go up against a group of aliens that had genuine god-like powers and who lived on an entirely different plane of existence. Debunking these aliens as gods was problematic. In response, a favorite piece of logic for the show became "What kind of petty gods demand that we worship them or be destroyed?" Now, these aliens were literally intent on destroying people the moment they were rejected as gods but the parallel had been established with Christianity, Islam, Judaism and any other religion that believes their deity will eventually punish those who refuse to believe and obey.

Honestly, this is a question I have heard a lot over the last several years. What kind of petty God would demand that we worship Him? Is God really so insecure? Is God really that mal-adjusted? Why wouldn't an all-powerful God simply allow us to do what we want?

But those questions show a lack of understanding of God's motives. In Jeremiah 7, God is pointing out the idolatrous behavior of the people of Judah, demonstrating how idolatry has basically become a family affair and the people are "provoking" him to anger. But then, God makes this statement, "But are they really provoking me?- This is the Lord's declaration - Isn't it they themselves being provoked to disgrace?" (Jeremiah 7:19, HCSB). In other words, God asks, "Are they really hurting me? Aren't they really just hurting themselves?"

Throughout scripture a picture is painted of how humanity was created to walk in fellowship with God. When that fellowship was broken is when problems started. But refusing to walk in fellowship with God is like refusing to breath oxygen: bad things are going to happen on their own. We can't expect to avoid fellowship with God and come out okay anymore than we can expect to avoid breathing oxygen and be okay. Scripture presents the picture that we are dead until God finds us and we begin to walk in fellowship with God again. If that death continues throughout our lives, how could we expect our state of death to suddenly end when our physical bodies expire?

God doesn't demand that we worship because God is petty and insecure. God demands that we worship because we were designed to worship God and to walk in fellowship with God in the very same way that we were designed to breath oxygen. God demands it because we only hurt ourselves if we refuse and God loves us too much to let us continue in death without trying to affect the situation.

The next time someone asks, "How petty does God have to be to demand that we worship Him?" Answer, "How petty does oxygen have to be to demand that we breathe it?" We were designed to worship God. Anything less is just harming ourselves.