Grand Sweep Daily
Exodus 23:10-12 (NIV)
10 For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, 11 but during the seventh year led the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
Exodus 20:8-11 (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 manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made 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.
Good morning!
My family knows that I am mathematically challenged. It all started in a fourth grade classroom when my teacher realized he could use my ignorance as a teaching tool for the entire class. It only got worse from there. Several years ago, I spent approximately four months in a legal study group, preparing for an examination that covered seven major areas of the law and took two days to complete. The National Association of Legal Professionals offers continuing education and credentials to any person who desires to become certified in their legal area of expertise. One of the seven sections of this examination focused on business math and accounting skill sets. My study partners promised they would get me through the math component, if it was the last thing they did. Praise the Lord for their tenacity and unwillingness to give up on me! Sitting in the examination room, we had approximately ninety minutes to complete two hundred math problems. When the testing ended, I grabbed a box of Kleenex and began to sob uncontrollably. My study mates thought I had totally come unglued during the exam. I was crying tears of joy because I managed to find the on button for my calculator! I keep telling myself that if I want to go to seminary, I have to pass college math first. It is obvious to me that my Heavenly Father has a strange sense of humor.
The Lord instructed Moses to tell the people that they could work, but on the seventh day, they would set aside this day to worship and rest and savor holy moments with Him. The Father set the supreme example in His creation of the cosmos. He worked for six days, and on the seventh day, God rested. It is a blessing to take a break. There is nothing more refreshing than making time to worship and praise the One who gives us life. Time spent in prayer and praise before the Lord completes me. It restores my sense of direction. It finishes the equation. The Sabbath is a holy time – a time to draw near to our Lord. I may not understand the theory completely, but I know that it works.
How much time do you spend worshipping God on the Sabbath? What does that day look like for you? Do you set a timer on your stopwatch so that you can leave church exactly sixty minutes after it began? Maybe you want to beat your Christian brothers and sisters to the steak house on Sunday, and therefore, a fifteen minute sermon may be all you’re willing to sit through. Some people sit in the very back of the church just so they can make a quick getaway prior to the altar call. Do you run from His call? Is it hard for you to sit in His presence, to give Him even an hour?
The older I get, the more I struggle with math. I may not be able to explain the theory, but I know what my life was like without His presence. Without Him, I was unbalanced, exhausted, and lost. Sometimes, the Sabbath cannot come quick enough. I find myself drawn to Him not only on Sunday, but every day of the week. Just give me six hours, so I can spend an hour in worship. Just give me six minutes, so I can take feel His breath upon my face. Six seconds may be too long to go without His grace. His presence, His love is everything I long for, and 6+1 completes me. It is my heart’s deepest longing. Oh, to be with Him forever, to gaze upon His holy face. I live for 6+1.
Someday the seventh hour will come. Someday, I will worship Him forever. Someday, the math will make sense. Until then, I’m going to trust the master mathematician and rest in His love, whenever He draws me to Him.
Grace and peace,
Deb Spaulding
Pray for: the correct answer! His formula for living is the only formula we will ever need. Will you set aside time to worship the Lord? Will you offer your Sabbath to the Lord? 6+1=wholeness. Do the math!
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© Copyright 2007, Deb Spaulding
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