RELAX...
"Relax...Release...Revive...Refresh...Replenish...Restore..."
Sounds like an ad for a health spa, right? Well, not only do these words apply to the body, they also apply to other parts of the soul, like our heart, mind and spirit. "Soul" is defined by Dallas Willard"as the hidden or 'spiritual' side of the person. It includes an individual's thoughts and feelings, along with heart or will, with its intents and choices. It also includes an individual's bodily life and social relations, which, in their inner meaning and nature, are just as 'hidden' as the thoughts and feelings." http://www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artID=106.
The idea is that of one's entire existence in this life. And my point is that all parts of our existence--physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, relational--need rest and need it regularly. I know this personally to be true. If I am fatigued or drained in any of these areas, the others are effected. I also know that all parts of my soul need transformation and deeply so. Thankfully, the ministry of the Holy Spirit is supernaturally carrying out that transformation of me. But, rest, I've found, facilitates the transformation or at least gives me a greater awareness and apprecation of it. For me to get to a place of rest, I know I need three things: (1) Solitude, (2) Silence, and (3) Security--in the finished work of Jesus Christ and His unfailing love for me.
Let's look at these three "S's" for rest. The first two, solitude and silence, are pretty understandable on their face. They mean, respectively, "get alone and still" and "get quiet and listen". Easy enough to understand, but hard to practice. Commitment and discipline are required and we are opposed by an enemy who tries to thwart our efforts. For more on these, I refer you to the excellent writing of Ruth Haley Barton in Sacred Rhythms, Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation (Intervarsity Press, 2006).
For the third "S", I point you toward Good News for Those Trying Harder by Alan Kraft (David C. Cook, 2008). Chapter 6 is entitled "Resting in Christ". Kraft makes the point that until our efforts at growth, transformation, and obedience are born of faith in the finished work of Christ and motivated by our understanding and acceptance of Christ's love toward us and power in us, we will eventually become exhausted (i.e., non-rested). All too often, I must admit, my efforts and motives are based in fear, guilt and shame instead of faith, love and power. I know that's the case when I'm feeling exhausted, burned out, anxious, resentful, etc. I know I'm not resting in Jesus' love for me. So, I must retreat and reorient myself to a state of rest. That starts, once again, with preching the whole of the Gospel to myself anew--that Jesus had such love for me, even in my sinful state, that he died to save me, every part of me, and that salvation involves transformation of my sinful nature to a Spirit-filled and Spirit-controlled nature. Such transformation makes possible the abundant (overflowing) life that Jesus came to give.
I've tried here to get at a linkage between rest and transformation. How did I do? What are your thoughts and experiences with this?
In any event, I hope you take a deep breath and relax (your heart, your mind and your body) in the blessedness of Jesus' unfailing love for you. He really does love you and He really is for you. Start there. Let that motivate you. Now, see if you can't rest better.
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Leigh Ann Dufrene on Oct 19, 2009 5:02pm
sadly, the concepts of rest and solitude are counterintuitive to many of us as we strive after the "keys to the Kingdom"
God can't heal, restore or repair if we fight with Him for control. He wants to meet us in those dark, stil places
Diane Lafving on Nov 2, 2009 6:02pm
I appreciate your linking solitude and silence to discipline - that's certainly what it takes for me to get either. I think it's the retreat part that is hardest for me. The demands in my life seem to come faster and faster.
Trusting everything to Christ, resting fully in Him, is surely the most delicate balance I know. I even have my signature say "No worries" so I remember to stay in that balance.
Resting in Him by His grace,
Diane L
Harold Holmyard on Nov 17, 2009 3:01pm
Tommy, in connection with your desire to avoid fear and anxiety, please let me explain something about your devotional in Join the Journey today. You wrote about Ezra 2:62:
Even worse, you are an untouchable. My understanding of "unclean" here means that anyone who touched or was touched by someone who was unclean became unclean himself. Now, he can't be touched. He can't associate. He is ex-communicated, i.e. thrown out of community. . . .
I have two reactions. One, "God, your standards are too harsh and the consequences of not meeting them are too severe."
Tommy, I believe that you used the NASB translation:
NAS Ezra 2:62 These searched among their ancestral registration, but they could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood.
You took the words quite naturally, but NASB may be misleading here because it adds words in English ("and excluded") that are not in the Hebrew. The Hebrew phrase reads more like: "and they were defiled from the priesthood." That, however, is not natural English, so NASB added words. However if you split up NASB's wording it can seem to convey two concepts ("unclean," "excluded"), while the Hebrew only has one. So other translations simply substituted a similar concept for the vague "defiled" or "unclean":
NAB Ezra 2:62 These men searched their family records, but their names could not be found written there; hence they were degraded from the priesthood,
NET Ezra 2:62 They searched for their records in the genealogical materials, but did not find them. They were therefore excluded from the priesthood.
HCSB Ezra 2:62 These searched for their entries in the genealogical records, but they could not be found, so they were disqualified from the priesthood.
The Hebrew word means "defiled" or "unclean," but it has a limited sense here, pertaining only to the men acting as priests. That is why I said that they could be touched and could engage in normal social relations. God is not as harsh as the NASB translation could convey here.