Perhaps you are in a situation where you feel God is testing you. You ask, 'Is God with me?'. You question the certainty if God is going to come through for you. "Maybe, not this time?" You thought.
Well, this was what happened to the Israelites when they were camped at Rest (Rephidim). So instead of resting, they called that place Massah and Meribah meaning testing and quarreling instead.
What happened next really showed me what happens to us when we are not rested. While at Rest (Rephidim) the Amalekites came to attack the Israelites. Amalek means 'becoming dispirited through loss of spirit as a result of hard labour and continuous toil'.
Isn't this sometimes the cycle of our spiritual life?
I start the week on Sunday feeling all charged up and rested. On Monday, when I get back to work I discovered all this trouble surrounding me. On Wednesday when I go to my care group or cell group I ask for prayers. On Thursday, no miracles yet. Damn! Better I take the bulls by the horn and deal with the matter head on. And by lunch time, I feel strife. (Why is the weekend so far away???!) By Friday I start worshiping the god of weekends and PS3.
Does this sound familiar to you?
I also see many people who go through this cycle on the mid to long term. A person get a promotion or a new job, they praise God because it was a miracle they got it. Then the new work load piles up, new challenges emerge. Oh! It must be a test from God they say. They panic. They get stressed. Then they strife and age 10 years in 1 month.
In writing this, I'm reminded to calm down. We are camped at Rest. So let's all enter God's rest, for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
Well, this was what happened to the Israelites when they were camped at Rest (Rephidim). So instead of resting, they called that place Massah and Meribah meaning testing and quarreling instead.
What happened next really showed me what happens to us when we are not rested. While at Rest (Rephidim) the Amalekites came to attack the Israelites. Amalek means 'becoming dispirited through loss of spirit as a result of hard labour and continuous toil'.
Isn't this sometimes the cycle of our spiritual life?
I start the week on Sunday feeling all charged up and rested. On Monday, when I get back to work I discovered all this trouble surrounding me. On Wednesday when I go to my care group or cell group I ask for prayers. On Thursday, no miracles yet. Damn! Better I take the bulls by the horn and deal with the matter head on. And by lunch time, I feel strife. (Why is the weekend so far away???!) By Friday I start worshiping the god of weekends and PS3.
Does this sound familiar to you?
I also see many people who go through this cycle on the mid to long term. A person get a promotion or a new job, they praise God because it was a miracle they got it. Then the new work load piles up, new challenges emerge. Oh! It must be a test from God they say. They panic. They get stressed. Then they strife and age 10 years in 1 month.
In writing this, I'm reminded to calm down. We are camped at Rest. So let's all enter God's rest, for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
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