4-27 Prayer for Mike By Gloria Barotta (Aunt Glo)

The Sabbath Rest

Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all the work.

I can always tell when my spirit needs rest. Thoughts swirl around in my head, I stop thinking clearly, I lack perspective, I whine. My mind is open to the lies of the evil one. After years of allowing the evil one to gain a toehold during these vulnerable times, I’ve learned to take my thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ (see 2 Cor. 10:5) and to take time to rest. Yesterday I took a rest. Actually, that’s not entirely true. The truth is, God forced me to rest, refresh, recharge, regroup. When I sat down to write to you yesterday, I had nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zip. So I rested and reached out to others to minister to me. I stopped searching for answers, I stopped problem solving, I just entered a time of “be-ing” instead of “do-ing.” I’ve always been better at “be-ing” than “do-ing.” I’m a Mary. Over the years I’ve taken on more “Martha-like” qualities to balance my “Mary” side. Balance. That’s the key.

I need a lot of rest. For me, like Mary, rest means sitting at the feet of Jesus. So after a day of rest, I’m back. Today in our passage, we see the model for rest. God created the heavens, the earth and all things on the earth. Then He rested. Whether you believe in the literal interpretation of “a day is a 24 hr period of time,” or whether you have bought into the metaphorical interpretation of “some period of time,” I think we can agree that creating all that God created was a lot of work whether it spanned 6 days or 6 millennia! (I happen to believe in the literal interpretation. Otherwise, I am left with too many opportunities to treat the commands of Scripture as “gentle suggestions.”)

Look at what happens after God’s rest. Verse 7 tells us that God created Adam from dust and Eve from Adam. (yes, I also believe that God literally created Adam from dust.) And man was the crown of creation! After His rest, God came back to work and created His masterpiece! That balance of be-ing and do-ing was modeled by the One who created all things. And please do not miss what happened after a good rest! A masterpiece! I believe we are at our best when we are well rested!!

Right now our family needs rest. After almost two weeks of do-ing, it’s time to balance that with be-ing. Will you pray that Lisa and Gracie and our entire family will enter into a time of rest and refreshment? There’s still so much to do. But right now, I sense we need a time of rest.

“Father God, You created the heavens and the earth with your hands. And you hold us in the palm of this same hand. Today we ask for a Sabbath’s rest. Maybe it’s a day, or two or a week. Give each person the wisdom to know how much time they need, and how they need to recharge. For some it is time with You in the Word. For others it is a time of fasting and prayer. For some it is solitude, for others it’s being with people. Only You know. Thank you for the friends and family who have brought food and flowers to minister to the physical needs of these family members. Much healing and fellowship have taken place over plates of food. Thank you for your love and protection. Amen.”