WHAT GRACE

 

JUNE 4, 2024

Mark 2:27-28

²⁷ Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

 

WHAT GRACE!

To summarize our devotion on Monday about understanding Sabbath, Jesus words above speak to God’s gracious intention for Sabbath observance, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” As we noted yesterday, the Sabbath was intended to help people, not burden them.

What grace we receive! If left to our own devices, we would lead lives filled with nothing but restlessness and fatigue. Yet, God does not abandon us. As Psalm 23:2 states, He guides us to lie down in green pastures and leads us beside still waters. The verse conveys a sense of gentle coaxing, a shepherd diligently and continuously guiding his sheep to where they can satisfy their hunger and thirst. Without guidance, sheep would stray into the wilderness and perish. Psalm 23:2 illustrates that God makes the first move.

The picture here is not of sheep grazing and drinking, but at rest, lying down, “stretched out” to use David’s word. Our Shepherd leads us by a slow and leisurely pace. You see, the picture is one of peacefulness, satisfaction, and rest.

Augustine cried out, “What will make me take my rest in You… so I can forget my restlessness and take hold of You, the one good thing in my life?” We long for peace, satisfaction and rest, don’t we? How often is it that we pray something like this at Sunday worship: “God, we are drained by another week. We are like a parched desert, empty and in need of replenishment."

The good news is that this deep longing begins with God. “He makes me [causes me to] lie down in green pastures he leads me beside quiet waters” (Psalm 23:2). The Good Shepherd “calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:3-4).

God makes the first move. He takes the initiative by calling us and leading us to a place of rest. It’s not because we’re seeking God; He is seeking us. And so it is: God calls us, seeking us to seek Him, and our hearts resonate with longing for Him.

This understanding will radically change the way we look at our relationship with God. How? Well, this results in our relationship with our creator not being focused on duty nor discipline, you know some kind of a regimen that we impose on ourselves like a hundred sit-ups and fifty push-ups each day, but a response, an answer, to One who has been calling us all our lives.

What are those green pastures and quiet waters to which God leads us? And where are they? God Himself is our “true pasture” (Jeremiah 50:7) and our pool of quiet water. He is our true nourishment, our living water. There is a hunger in the human heart which nothing but God can satisfy. There is a thirst that no one but He can quench.  “Do not work for food that spoils,” Jesus said, “but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you…. I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:27, 35).

Today let us remember and live into the promises of God that say, “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest.” (Hebrews 4:9-11a)   Amen.