Leviticus 14:1-57
Mark 6:30-56
Psalm 40:1-10
Proverbs 10:11-12
The last few days have made it so clear that serving the Lord can be a lot of very hard work. The job description in Leviticus today suggests that one has to be, at the very least, (1) a doctor who makes house calls; (2) a butcher; and (3) endowed with tremendous memory and attention to detail. Can you imagine having to go through everything, and then putting some of the cleansing oil on the wrong thumb? I don't know how many people reported skin abnormalities, but there had to have been a constant stream of sacrifice at the temple, and that alone would have kept the priests very busy.
Jesus was really busy too. When He wasn't preaching, He was healing. When He wasn't healing, He was feeding. Sometimes, He was doing all three things together. Did He get tired? Of course. But what did He do to recharge His batteries? We see two examples in today's reading - in Mk6:31 He tells the disciples "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." He understood the need to take oneself away from one's wok, but taking oneself away wasn't enough. In v45, after having preached to a crowd and feeding them, we read that "He went up on a mountainside to pray." See, physical rest was not enough; for rest to be complete, one had to be recharged by reconnecting with the Father.
I don't know about anyone else, but there are days I am exhausted. And I am tempted to believe that I need to keep on going, to keep on pushing, to keep on fighting. The truth is, when the tank is empty, the car isn't going any further. During those times, may I always remember that it isn't enough to pull over to the side of the road - I need to do so at the gas pump of prayer and fill my tank with God's presence and strength.
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