In times like these, many people are incredibly eager for information regarding this virus. Unfortunately, in our effort to be informed and updated, we have been inundated and overwhelmed. We need some rest from all that!
"Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.
Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken." (Psalm 62:5-6 NIV)
As Christians, we know that all spiritual rest flows through the grace given to us in Jesus Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit. If you have received that rest in Jesus Christ for salvation, there is a deep spiritual rest available to you. You can read about that in Hebrews 4:1-10. It is far above and beyond anything a non-believer can ever receive until they receive God's gift of salvation found only in Jesus Christ.
With that in mind, I want to encourage you to take a day, today, or tomorrow and fast from the news. Take a rest from consuming information if that's what you've been doing. Include in that rest, a one day fast from social media. Yes, you can do it, we can do it! Take one day focused on nothing but our God, His Words in the Bible, on praying, on praise and worship, and casting your cares before the Lord.
We can do this even if we're on the job! How? During our breaks, instead of checking social media updates, we can read God's word from the bible app on our phone, listen to worship music, pray, and thank God. We can meditate on God's promises throughout the day. We can "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (1 Thessalonians 5:16 NKJV)
Here's a short story I'll use to illustrate God's rest. Last year my wife Anne and I took a trip out west to Arizona. It was a wonderful trip exploring the Grand Canyon and the Red Rocks of Sedona. There are so many beautiful sites to see there!
At the end of the trip, we were driving down the highway speedily toward Phoenix to return home. I intended to stop briefly at a highway rest area and quickly resume our journey. While waiting for Anne, I walked behind the building and saw a stunningly beautiful mountain range in the distance. Leading up to the mountains was this incredibly peaceful looking valley. I began to take pictures trying to capture the beauty of it with the sun setting behind it. I took photos from various angles and every angle of those mountains with the valley before it was so serene and beautiful. One of the photographs is on the cover of my new worship music EP called Quiet Times.
Now, remember we had just been to the Grand Canyon and seen some of the most incredible sights in the world. We could have left there thinking we've seen all we needed to see, but then at the most unexpected place, a highway rest area, we saw more! That's how life is. God has beautiful things all around us, but we have to stop at the spiritual rest areas of life to enjoy the sites and His revelations. Moments when we take breaks from the physical realities around us and enter a time of heavenly rest with our God. Times when we get off the high-speed highway of information, mind-boggling thought and activity, and rest in the Lord!
In those moments, God allows us to see His magnificence and the beauty of His creation. He can show us these things even as we look out the windows of our cars, homes, apartments, or workplaces. We don't have to travel somewhere else, to another city, state or nation. Just take a moment right now and look at the leaves blowing in the wind, the fluffy white clouds gliding by in peaceful procession, or listen to the birds chirping in the distance.
If you're reading this at night, take a few moments and look up at the moon and the stars in the sky and remember your God created them with His words when He said, "Let there be light," and there was light." (Genesis 1:3 NKJV)
As we enter these special moments of spiritual rest, we will see farther than that. God will awaken in us the beauty of His holiness, His Heavenly rest, and perpetual peace in our hearts.
In ending, let me suggest we all go to that spiritual rest area right now! Don't wait until later! If you do, later may not be soon enough as you kick the "rest can" down the road.
That beautiful spiritual destination in the presence of God is available with Him now! Don't live, hoping it will come one day in the future. The future is now if you will take it!
So take a break, a quiet time in the presence of the Lord, and let God's peace find a place in your heart. Let God's love, hope, and joy fill you to overflow as you gaze at the beauty of the Lord. "Yes, my soul, find rest in God." (Psalm 62:5 NIV)
God bless you and may He fill your heart with His heavenly rest, Brian