Spring Cleaning

We’re halfway through April (I started this post April 17th). Each month seems to go by faster and faster. Each season seems to fly by in a blur. I don’t remember and I can’t recollect all that’s happened. A blur. There doesn’t seem to be time to reflect on what has happened, to adjust my thinking and planning for the next season, nor to recount all the ways the LORD has proved faithful and good in all those things I’d been anxious about and foolishly despaired over.

I’ve been hosting a ladies’ harvest luncheon on the first day of autumn the past few years. This past year, in an attempt to force myself to sit down, slow down, be still and reflect on the year’s bounty from the LORD, I put in the invites instructions to each of the ladies to prepare to share one of their blessings from the LORD that they were grateful for.

Perhaps I need to begin hosting a ladies’ spring luncheon, to encourage myself and others to sit down, slow down, be still and reflect on the many graces the LORD grows in winter. In my experience, grace truly does grow best in winter (Samuel Rutherford), but we’re typically so excited to get out of ‘winter’ that we run full steam ahead into spring without even acknowledging our Father’s sustaining goodness.

In reflecting on Jesus, on His life on this earth, His completed work, His resurrection, and now how “He always lives to make intercession for” me, I’m seeing my ever-increasing need to stop, to cease, to be still, to be silent. This is where I need to do some serious spring cleaning in my schedule, and my ‘to-do’ list.

I need to declutter and purge, cast off every weight and distraction that’s hindering me from coming to Jesus, finding rest, and being renewed, nourished by my daily bread. Time is not going to slow down. The next season is not going to be less busy, less noisy or less hectic. I need to take control of my time, and to stop allowing it to run me ragged.

When I returned to Gordon College to work as a Resident Director after seminary, I remember being told how vital Sabbath rests are for those in full-time ministry, particularly for those who live where they minister. The framework for Sabbath rests was along the lines of: daily Bible/prayer time, one day per week (the Sabbath Day, the Lord’s Day), a few hours to half a day once per week, one weekend per month, one week per season, etc. The point was that I needed to intentionally schedule blocks of time to be in solitude, to be quiet, to be still.

The saying ‘a woman’s work is never done’ could also be ‘a Christian’s work is never done’. There are always going to be more things to do. There are always going to be things left undone, forgotten, pushed back, missed, done poorly. There are always going to be people disappointed, frustrated, angry, hurt and feeling neglected.

We cannot do it all. We most certainly cannot do it all well.

I know this. I believe this. I have experienced this. And yet, I still get sucked backed into the lies that if I just manage my time better, get better quality sleep, stay hydrated, eat healthier, exercise, get some sunshine, get out in nature, and learn how to do things more efficiently than I can do it all, and do it all well.

These lies, these burdens are coming from within myself (pride, arrogance, presumption – aka optimism and self-confidence), and from outside of myself, the world and satan.

The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10)

There is truth to ‘a Christian’s work is never done’, but it has been distorted to steal our joy in the completed work of Jesus, to kill our hope in the completed work of Jesus, and to destroy our faith in the completed work of Jesus.

Yes, there are always more prayers to be prayed, there are always more lost to share the good news with, there are always more Bible verses to memorize, there are always more sermons to listen to, there are always more godly books to read, there are always more hymns to learn, there are always more thoughts that need to be taken captive, there are always more… this is true.

But when our focus is so firmly set on the work itself, the task itself, and we are feeling like we’re not doing enough, we are actually caught up in the snare of the devil and no longer working heartily unto the LORD. The devil makes the work, the yoke, the burden heavy, difficult, and a drain. We need the Spirit to wake us up to this reality, to the truth of Whose we truly are.

Jesus has set us free! Free to turn our eyes off the work, off the goal, off ourselves, and to turn our eyes on Him and His finished work, His promise, the hope set before us. We are free to be praising Him, enjoying Him, and giving thanks for Him.

And then in that strength that comes from the joy of the LORD, we are free to cheerfully do the good works that God has prepared for each one us of us to do. Not all the good works, but the just our own.

All you who are weary and heavy laden with the fact that there is always more; all you who are secretly crying out to the LORD with Elijah, “It is enough, LORD!”; all you who are losing heart, growing weary of doing good, and are ready to quit, seeking escape – here is where we get to taste and see the goodness of our Father in His commandments.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11

The commentary explains that ‘Sabbath’ is the Hebrew word ‘shabbat’, derived from the verb meaning ‘to cease’. The Sabbath ordinance is rooted in both the orders of creation and of redemption – it looks forward to the final redemptive Sabbath rest for God’s people. It reminds God’s people of their place within God’s purposes for creation. Ultimately, the Sabbath points to Christ Jesus, our Creator and Redeemer, who brings rest to the people of God. (The Reformation Study Bible, Ligonier Ministries)

Our place within God’s purposes for creation is to believe and trust Him, which frees us to obey Him, which leads us to enjoy Him, which is how we glorify Him and make His goodness known.

God is not a harsh taskmaster.

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure/business on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure/pursuing your own business, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 58:13-14

When we turn our eyes to Jesus, we see how He did not embrace the lie of satan that the end justifies the means. We see how He refused satan’s offer to give Him the world the ‘easy way’. How Jesus did not take the way of escape and avoid all the suffering, sorrow, and pain of the Cross. How He did not obey the cries of the crowds and even His own disciples to do their will. We see that as Jesus went along and saw the effects of sin and death on His creation, He was grieved and distressed over it, He had pity and compassion on the people, He wept and lamented, but it did not distract Him from His Father’s way of redemption. We see how He obeyed His father’s will.

With all of these distractions from within Himself and from outside of Himself, how did Jesus stay focused, how did He stay strong, how did He stay encouraged and not lose heart or grow weary?

He did not lean on His disciples. He did not look to the local church body or its religious leaders. It was often His own disciples discouraging Him from His mission of the Cross, trying to get Him to embrace His popularity with the crowds, and attempting to minimize His offensiveness to the religious leaders. His closest companions thought they were loving Him, looking out for His best interests, and even thinking they were pursing the consummation of His kingdom. But they were actually discouraging Him, hindering Him from obeying the Father. (Matthew 16:23)

Jesus leaned on His Father. He looked to His Father. Jesus would continually go off by Himself to a desolate place to commune with His Father. Through that fellowship Jesus would be renewed, refreshed, and strengthened. By intentionally ceasing from the work of preaching the good news, and being alone with His Father, Jesus was able to resist every temptation known to man. (Hebrews 4:15)

If Jesus needed these intentional times of Sabbath rests, how much more do we?

What is keeping you from ceasing? What is keeping you from being still? What is keeping you from being silent? What is keeping you from calling Sabbath rests a delight? What is keeping you from having the God of peace fill your heart and mind with the peace of God?

“I have calmed and quieted my soul…

I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.

…my heart is not lifted up;

my eyes are not raised too high…

…like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.

…hope in the LORD.” Psalm 131

-Soli Deo gloria