ZPCBlog

About the Author: Katelyn Wasson is a freshman at Purdue University. She is studying applied statistics and is a member of Purdue’s cross country and track teams. Katelyn is the daughter of Jay and Beth Wasson. She has a younger sister, Lauren, and a dog named Mackey.

This Week’s Scripture: ISAIAH 2:1-5     

Isaiah 2:2-3 says, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills , and all nations will stream to it.”

You would think that 9+ months into a pandemic, I would be really good at resting by now. Turns out, while I’ve grasped relaxation (watching shows on Netflix, scrolling through Instagram, etc.) I’m still a long way away from mastering rest. This 15-minutes-of-time-with-God-per-day challenge is evidence of that. Despite having time off from school and training before finals, I’ve had a hard time sitting down to spend quiet time with God this week. Sometimes, I would get out my Bible in the evening but couldn’t seem to focus because my brain was busy forming a to-do list for the next day. Other times, I tried quiet time in the morning, but as I went to my Spotify app to click on a worship playlist, I got a Twitter notification; I blinked and somehow 30 minutes had come and gone! No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t seem to tune out the distractions in my surroundings and in my own frantic thoughts  for long enough to slow down and rest in God consistently.

It’s comforting to know that this struggle to rest isn’t only a “me” problem: it’s a human problem too. How do I know this? God knows that we have such a tendency for busyness that he makes rest one of the ten commandments! In Exodus 20:8-11, God commands us: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day to the Lord your God.” God knows that we have such a tendency to go, go, go that he must demand we slow down, or we won’t. Our natural posture is busyness and distraction, and it is compounded even more by this digital age of instant gratification. Galatians 5:17 says, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” That’s why we must be intentional about setting aside time to focus on God alone. This will not just happen spontaneously, because the desires of the flesh and spirit are in constant conflict, and whichever desire we feed will win.

One thing that has kept me, and might be keeping you, from taking a Sabbath or spending time in rest is that I am just too busy! If you’re anything like me, you probably feel like no way you can possibly slow down or take your foot off of the gas, or else you won’t be able to pack everything into your crammed 7-day schedule. News flash: this means you and I need Sabbath even more.

I first observed Sabbath in practice on my cross country team at Purdue. A few of the women on my team are strong Christians and have set an amazing example of what it looks like to trust God with your whole life; time, money, relationships, EVERYTHING. It’s awesome and I’m so blessed to have their example to follow. A few of these girls read the book “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by John Mark Comer and decided that they needed to assess the busyness in their lives, so they have begun to integrate rest and Sabbath in their lives. They’ve been doing so for about a year now and have grown stronger in their faith through this practice.

A few weeks ago, one of my teammates had a hectic week ahead – three HUGE exams. I figured there was no way she could take a whole day off with these exams looming ahead. “You wouldn’t be able to take a Sabbath this week, will you?” I asked her on Saturday. “Katelyn,” she replied, “I won’t be able to function this upcoming week if I don’t.”

For her, and all of us, rest with God isn’t just something we should do when it’s convenient or when we have time or when we don’t have anything better to do. Rest, whether it’s on Sabbath or in prayer time throughout the week, is a necessity. It’s a time each week when we can slow down and remember that our worth is in God, not our works. Our identity is in Him, not our performances. Our hope is in Him, not our grade on our next biology test or the big job promotion or our team winning the game.

By practicing Sabbath, or quiet time, or resting with God in any way, we are living into Isaiah 2:2, establishing the mountain of the Lord’s temple as “chief among the mountains” in our life. Other “mountains,” like friends, school, hobbies, or work, might give us temporary rest or reassurance, but only God can truly ground us, give us worth, and be our hope. I love that verse 2 says, “all nations will stream to it.” It’s a beautiful picture that resting in God is life-giving, refreshing, and connects us to Him and to one another.

P.S. If you have a tendency to hurry and want to learn about ways to integrate rest and Sabbath into your life, I would highly recommend checking out this podcast episode:

Stop Hurrying with John Mark Comer episode of Made For This with Jennie Allen https://open.spotify.com/episode/4PKoCajWquudshpInszWZB?si=F6BQRkjZTDCubfE0pbVRvg

P.P.S. Here is a great song to rest in this week:

Not in a Hurry by Will Reagan, United Pursuit

https://open.spotify.com/album/56AyeF4ew8191qIo5GemiU?highlight=spotify:track:2XAYoQogLa4y2SGRX9BhTs

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