Our Daily Bread-- “Lie Down” February 25, 2014 Read: Exodus 20:8-11 New International Version (NIV) 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the LORDmade 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. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. —Psalm 23:2-3 Our golden retriever can get so overly excited that he will go into a seizure. To prevent that from happening, we try to calm him. We stroke him, speak to him in a soothing voice, and tell him to lie down. But when he hears “lie down,” he avoids eye contact with us and starts complaining. Finally, with a dramatic sigh of resignation, he gives in and plops to the floor. Sometimes we too need to be reminded to lie down. In Psalm 23, we learn that our Good Shepherd makes us “lie down in green pastures” and leads us “beside the still waters.” He knows that we need the calm and rest that these provide, even when we don’t realize it ourselves. Our bodies are designed to have regular rest. God Himself rested on the seventh day after His work of creation (Gen. 2:2-3; Ex. 20:9-11). Jesus knew there was a time to minister to the crowds and a time to rest. He instructed His disciples to “come aside . . . and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). When we rest, we refocus and are refreshed. When we are filling every hour with activity—even with worthwhile things—God often gets our attention by making us “lie down.” Rest is a gift—a good gift from our Creator who knows exactly what we need. Praise Him that He sometimes makes us “lie down in green pastures.” —Cindy Hess Kasper Heavenly Father, thank You for Your care for our well-being in every area of our lives. Help us to be rested and refreshed in You. If we don’t come apart and rest awhile, we may just plain come apart! —Havner Insight The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue (Greek, meaning “ten words”), are 10 laws given by God as guidelines for daily living. The first four commandments (Ex. 20:1-11) place the worship of God as primary for His people. The first commandment (v.3) calls us to worship God alone. He is the only one we are to serve. The second (vv.4-5) urges us to worship God appropriately and correctly, for God doesn’t tolerate idolatry of any kind. The third commandment (v.7) directs us to worship God sincerely and reverently. Our actions and attitudes must not dishonor Him. The fourth commandment (vv.8-11) lays out the frequency, regularity, and consistency of our worship. We are to set aside one day each week for worship.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 15:54:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015