Reading: Exodus 23-24

Scripture

“Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed. Exodus 23:12 (NIV)

Observation

God is concerned with our well-being, and so he commanded the Israelites to have rest and refreshment. This was to be for everyone, even animals, and even the ground. In addition to a weekly rest, three times a year there were festivals which had the dual role of focusing the people on God and giving them a holiday. The sabbaths and the festivals therefore provided for physical, mental and spiritual refreshment.

Refresh; to breathe; passively, to be breathed upon, i.e. (figuratively) refreshed (as if by a current of air)

Application

Refreshment should be a natural part of my life, a cycle, like a clock consisting of many cogs, some small, some large, and a very few larger still. As time ticks by, each cog goes through its cycle, pausing for a second to rest between each movement, or for a minute, or maybe for an hour. This is the way God plans for me to work and rest. Every part of me needs to be regularly refreshed – the physical, the mental and the spiritual. For true refreshment, all three need my disciplined attention.

Prayer

Thank you Lord for the opportunity to rest. Thank you for the refreshment that comes from your Word, and the opportunity to pause and enjoy spending time with you. Here I am Lord, to unwind, to worship and to drink from your spring of living water. To breathe, and be breathed upon.