Sunday Reflections - Rest

Last week I thought a lot about peace - the peace that passes all understanding. Today I have been thinking about rest.

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. (Ps 62:1)

One of the great stories in the Bible is in 1 Kings 18. The prophet Elijah confronts 450 prophets of Baal to see who's greater - God or Baal. Elijah tells them to take a bull, sacrifice it and put it on the wood on their altar. Then they should ask Baal to send down fire from the sky to light the fire.

The prophets of Baal danced and shouted from morning to noon. Elijah taunted them to shout louder. They even cut themselves until the blood flowed - but no fire from Baal.

Elijah then rebuilt the altar of God, sacrificed a bull and put it on the wood on the altar. Then he dug a trench around the altar and three times had water poured over the bull, wood and altar to make the wood even harder to light. Then he prayed, "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

And God poured fire down from heaven and burned up the wood, bull and even dried up all the water. Elijah had won a great victory over the prophets of Baal. I suspect he was pumped up. At God's direction all 450 prophets of Baal were killed by the sword.

Shortly after, he was threatened by a single woman, Jezebel, who said, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them." She was ticked that all of her prophets of Baal were dead.

What was Elijah's response to this one woman? Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, Lord," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors."

After defeating 450 prophets of Baal in one of the most dramatic examples of God's power, Elijah was ready to throw in the towel. What was God's remedy? He sent an angel to give him food and rest. Elijah was worn out and God knew he needed sustenance for his body with food and sustenance for his mind and spirit with rest. After he ate and rested, God directed Elijah to journey 40 miles to Horeb.

It's easy for me to go from feeling strong in the Lord one day to wondering what in the world I will do the next. Often my fears come from the fact that I'm tired - physically or emotionally. Just as Elijah, I often need rest to continue on the journey that God is leading me on.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matt 11:28-30)


Today is January 25 and if today is your Birthday then you share your day with: Alicia Keys (singer), China Kantner (actress, daughter of singer Grace Slick), Corazon Aquino (first woman president of the Phillipines), Edwin Newman (TV correspondent), Dean Jones (actor, "Love Bug"), Virginia Woolf (British novelist), William Colgate (soapmaker), and Robert Burns (Scottish poet, "Auld Lang Syne").

On this day in 1533 England's King Henry the Eighth secretly married his second wife, Anne Boleyn. In 1878 a Turkish steamer became the first ship to be sunk by a torpedo, fired from a Russian boat. In 1890 Nellie Bly, a young New York reporter, completed a trip around the world in the astounding time of 72 days, six hours and 11 minutes. In 1915 the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, inaugurated US transcontinental telephone service when Alexander Bell in New York calls Thomas Watson in San Francisco. In 1924 the first Winter Olympics began at Chamonix, France. In 1937 NBC radio presented the first broadcast of "The Guiding Light". The program became the longest-running story line in daytime drama. The radio show remained until 1956. "The Guiding Light" began its long run on CBS-TV in 1952. In 1961 President Kennedy held the first presidential news conference carried live on radio and television. And in 1964 the Beatles reached the #1 spot on the music charts, as their hit single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" grabbed the top position.