II Samuel 16:14
From The Pastor's Heart: The Pause that Refreshes
Stress is an affliction that many agree is at epidemic proportions in western society. In our fast paced lifestyles, we have succumbed to this malady in increasing numbers. The symptoms are easily discerned and include physical, emotional and mental effects: haggard, listless, tired lives; lack of focus and inability to stir up enthusiasm and energy; irritability, complaining and murmuring; broken relationships; broken bodies; burdened and broken minds; a loss of heart; indigestion, headaches, various digestive disorders; abrasive, nervous, depressed, and sleepless. The list could easily be multiplied.
These symptoms are the result of underlying causes. We as a society have willingly exchanged hard, physical labor for physical convenience, consumption and ease; we have exalted efficiency and the accumulation of material profit and willingly sacrificed many things to achieve these goals. The fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is evidently still a source of fascination and almost universally preferred to the tree of life. Technology and the acquisition of knowledge have enabled us to far outpace our ancestors of a short time ago in what we can accomplish and the sparing of ourselves from physical labor. Yet the lives we are living are taking their toll in many other ways, among them, stress. And as with king David and his companions, there is a weariness that settles in no matter how you live. Although the effects today are widespread, we are not the first people to experience these things. Even the most godly Christian is not exempt from growing weary and needing this refreshing. God hasn’t made us to remain taut and engaged without some relief. Our lifestyle choices frequently are very demanding and stressful. Who wants to forsake our modern amenities and go back to the so-called simpler life of a by-gone era when men scratched out their living from the soil or sea, and women toiled from early morning till late providing the basics for their families and battling the elements? Some seek positive solutions through changing their diets, engaging in various exercise regimens, vacations, entertainment, recreation, seeking professional psychological help or therapeutic drugs, taking early retirement to chase their dreams, and other ways.
Could God have provided something better for us in this vital realm within the pages of his holy Word, the Bible? Surely it is sufficient to meet our needs with the Holy Spirit’s guidance and illumination. God certainly has foreseen this need of ours, even as he did with king David and his people. Here is a word for worn down, frazzled people of the twenty first century.
Note that David and his people were said to “come weary and refreshed themselves there”. They didn’t leave and go to Tahiti or some tropical island paradise. Right there where they had been abused and had dirt and rocks thrown at them and been slandered they came with the weariness of travelers who are fleeing for their lives and they refreshed themselves right there. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?
How did they do it? The Hebrew word is a root word that means to get a breath of fresh air and be refreshed. Evidently they stopped their travels in the vicinity of Bahurim and took a breather. The exact same word occurs in Exodus 23:12 of the refreshment provided by God’s law for handmaids and strangers by the practice of keeping the Sabbath every week in Israel. These were laboring people who needed time weekly to take a breather. It was God’s will for them to have time regularly for that to take place. The other place this word occurs is in Exodus 31:17 where it speaks of God himself being refreshed on the seventh day after having created the universe in six days. He found refreshment by resting from his labors one day. Consistently refreshment is associated with taking time off one day in seven for the rest God planned his people should take. So we have an alternating pattern of intense activity involving labor, and a regular time devoted to taking a breather.
Today we live in the era of twenty four X seven everything. Nothing closes down or even slows down. Widespread belief in the theory of material evolution erases even the memory of why we have seven days in each week. Factories have to maintain efficiency, and the constant, unchanging pace is not God’s will for us. There is no refreshment for mankind. No matter what your opinion about the Sabbath, or the Lord’s Day, may be, it is clear that our modern society is out of step with God’s plan of regular refreshment for our lives. God didn’t give us this in order to bring us into some form of formal legalism like the Pharisees. The Sabbath was clearly made for man – Mark 2:27.
When was the last time you were refreshed? Is your life showing signs of stress and fracture that is so commonplace today? Don’t wait until you can afford a fancy vacation, or pin your hope of a remedy on a diet or drug or exercise regimen. God may be simply telling you to take some time each week to spend with him in being refreshed with and by him. He knows how much we all need to work and then take a regular breather. It takes time to do this. You can’t do it while you’re busy pressing along in the press of humanity toward the same goals the world is frantically pursuing at a maddening pace. And no substitute will accomplish what this simple, spiritual remedy will do for you. Put God’s Word to the test and prove for yourself how good his way is. Seek the refreshing that was so effective in a highly stressful situation to these godly people of long ago. May God give you the refreshing and renewal you need in his fellowship. Take a regular breather with God.
Your loving pastor in our powerful Lord Jesus,
Ed Sager
by S. I. McMillen, M.D. & David E. Stern, M.D.
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