Stoppable Rest
by Jared Johnson
“STOP!”
... ... ...
“... Know that I’m God.”
Dr JK Jones suddenly SHOUTED at all of us as we walked into class and were settling into our seats.
We stopped!
Those are the only direct words I remember, 25+ years on, now, from any class session during my time at Lincoln, but I also know that, on that day, he went on to tell us how paltry “be still” is in our typical translation of Psalm 46.10, as well as talk about “margins,” which aren’t precisely “rest,” but they sure do overlap an awful lot.
Our blogs this month about rest have been great ... as I have been frantically flopping like a fish-out-of-water from one task to the next.
We need rest physically, socially-emotionally, mentally, sensorily, and spiritually. It’s remarkable (and sometimes even disheartening) just how much those aspects can impose upon one another; we say “hangry” for good reasons.
Speaking for myself, I’m far more likely to simmer down and find rest when I’m reminded of what’s obvious but often unsaid about our present cultural situation. “A fish doesn’t know it’s swimming in water.” We are inundated with electronics – we're “swimming” in them! It should be top-of-mind for all of us everyday: we’re in new territory, historically, with all these devices. While it’s still true that “there’s nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1.9 & 10 both), we also know that Abraham didn’t grow up in Terah’s household with a magic glowy screen keeping him up at all hours of the night, feeding him abject ungodliness and trash. How, o how, did Paul ever live a faithful life without a smartphone? We know the answer.
And we’re barely 20 years into this experiment! Our senses are continuously assaulted by every ring, ding, ping, buzz, whistle, twitter, claxon, alarm, squeal, shout, shriek and groan from our magic glowy screens. Wait – that “groan” was me.
Does it pique your attention and interest that nearly all our content this month regarding “rest” has at least touched on electronics? It seems we can all identify a problem common to everyone. Soooo... step 2 is...
A few months ago, I heard Dr Mark Moore make an observation and challenging statement. We do indeed wear busyness like a badge and, shock of all surprises, he, like you and I, all have 24 hours in our days. So he’s decided to refuse to reply that he’s “busy” or “too busy.” Instead, he’s forced himself to get brutally candid and honest with himself and others and rather than hiding behind an excuse of “busyness,” has simply decided to say (or reply to emails that), “I’m not prioritizing that.”
I love that. I can’t attend to everything that competes for my attention. “I’m not prioritizing that” is a more proactive and emotionally intelligent version of a long-time favorite of mine: “opt out.” This world will soldier on plenty fine without me frenetically panicking over every notification that gets hurtled at my eyeballs. So opt out. Just don’t feed that beast.
It’s absurd - the lot of it.
I suspect the situation is absurd because we are absurd.
I also suspect that’s exactly why we need rest. We need regular recalibrations to blunt the insanity that sometimes seeps, sometimes gushes, out of us.
Rest reminds us, reminds me, that God stewards His creation quite competently, with or without me.
STOP! ... Know that I am God!
In my frenzied striving, only sometimes do I remember...
It’s useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; God gives rest to his loved ones.
Psalm 127.2
But if I just answer one more email...
Either that, or I can acknowledge what The Text says, set work aside and step away.
STOP! ... know that I’m God.
This is what Sovereign [Yahweh], the Holy One of Israel says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. ...”
Isaiah 30.15
Jesus is infinite. I’m not. He can always do one more thing. I can’t.
He told me that I have strength from “quietness.” Maybe that’s another paradox of our faith; lose my life to find it, last will be first, quiet = strong.
As someone who lives in the hiding place of the One on High, who lodges in the shade of the Most High, I say of Yahweh, “My shelter, my stronghold, my God in whom I trust.”
Psalm 91.1 The First Testament
STOP! ... know that I’m God.
... there was a low, murmuring sound. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his shirt up over his face, then went out and stood on the mountain at the cave’s entrance. Then a voice spoke, asking...
1 Kings 19.12-13 paraphrase
Stop. Know that I’m God.
My shepherd being Yahweh, I don’t lack. He enables me to lie down in grassy pastures.
He leads me to settled water; he turns my life back. ...
Psalm 23.1-3 The First Testament
Stop, and know that I’m God.
God’s promise of entering his rest still stands ...
God’s rest is there for people to enter…
So God set another time for entering his rest …
...and that time is today.
Hebrews 4.1, 6-7
