Ezekiel 3:16-6:14
Hebrews 4:1-16
Psalm 104:24-35
Proverbs 26:27
The new testament reading, from Hebrews, talks about rest. It doesn't describe it very clearly - the best description of the rest was what God did on the seventh day - He didn't work. I confess I haven't had many of those Sundays...more often than not I've found myself running errands, or getting a head start on the week, or doing something else. This last Sunday was different - Carla was out with a friend, Thomas was at another friend's house, and Christian was happy to hang out with me at home. So from right after lunch - call it 1:30 in the afternoon - to about 8pm, other than pick Thomas up and make dinner, I did nothing that might've been construed as work. Christian and I shot hoops, then Thomas came home and we watched a bit of TV, switching from football to basketball to baseball when they came on. And it was great. My mind was clear, my frown lines disappeared, and it was easy to smile, easy to laugh. And I could only think how different Sunday was from Monday, when I left home before 6 and got home at midnight for yet another hour's worth of work; and how, if my Sunday rest was so relaxing, how amazing it must be to enter into God's rest.
The rest of the NT reading is so different from the tribulation described in the OT, from the talk of sieges, of scarce and rationed food and water, of punishment, of parents having to eat their children to live, of a ruin of a nation. As I read that last sentence, "different" does not seem to begin to cover the stark contrast between the conditions described in the OT and the NT readings. Why so terrible a fate? The reading is pretty clear - they abandoned God, they abandoned their covenant, in favor of their idols. The reading talks of detestable idols, of vile images and detestable practices.
Now I will say this: it is the easiest thing to check out the speck in someone else's eye and miss the log in my own. I am very guilty of that, and often. And the truth of the matter is, while we are called to be accountable for our brothers and sisters, it comes down to me to identify and give up the idols in my life. And I have to admit - after a Sunday like the other day, I realize there are a lot of things that entice me away from that part of the covenant with Him that says "honor the sabbath, keep it holy". Identifying these idols is a start - then I might be able to "make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one [me!] will perish by following their example of disobedience".
Father open our ears, our eyes and our hearts to the words You speak, identifying the idols that distract us from You. Then be the High Priest that empathizes with our weakness, and grant us the grace and mercy You know we need, that we might enter into Your rest.
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