Set Aside Some Ice Water

“To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.” (Isa 28:12 AV)

 

These words are spoken to Ephraim, or the ten northern tribes of Israel.  They are spoken to Judah as a warning of the attitude that pervaded Ephraim.  The question at the end of this verse is the point of the verse.  God had promised rest and refreshing to the people of God if they would simply trust Him and His law.  The rest doesn’t mean Nirvana.  There would still be the toil of labor.  Sickness and aged death would still be a part of life.  But the one rest and refreshing which is always available could never be taken away.  Spiritual rest and spiritual refreshing would always be there.  All they had to do was to submit to the perfect will of God for them.  This context aside, there is an application for which the N.T. saint may glean.  There is a rest and a refreshing for the saint today.

Of note here is the rest is for those who are weary.  If we are not weary, we need no rest.  Which also implies weariness is part and parcel of the saint’s pilgrimage.  Paul writes,  “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Ga 6:9 AV)  And, again Paul writes,  “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” (2Co 4:16 AV)  It is in this later verse we learn the truth of our journey.  Our physical bodies will get older and wear out.  We experience battle after battle.  We endure trials of faith that take us to the edge.  We deal with stress.  We deal with failing health.  However, Paul tells us the inward man, or the spiritual man, is renewed day by day.  We do not have to wait until heaven to experience a level of rest and refreshing now.  The promise of renewal and rest is for today.  The only way we do not experience it is if, like Ephraim, we refuse it through pride or sin.

I try to live a structured life.  Scheduling certain things on certain days helps to get much done.  To that end, Friday is my mowing day.  Summer is upon us.  Temperature and humidity are rising quickly and staying longer.  When I mowed at the beginning of the season, the effect of the sun and humidity were not a concern.  Now, however, they are of great concern.  I have a pre-mowing routine.  I have to pick up the dog’s messes in the front yard.  I have to get the mower out and put the battery in.  I have to unlock the front entryway where the mower is stored.  I take my ball cap and soak it in water to place on my head.  I get a longer towel to drape around my neck so I can wipe my face off as I sweat.  One other preparatory step I take is to get the biggest vessel from which I can drink and fill it with ice water.  I know that in a matter of a few minutes, that drink will be necessary.  The toil of cutting the lawn is overcome by the refreshing water set aside.  The toil of mowing is easier to endure knowing as soon as I am done, I can sit in my recliner and gulp down a gallon of ice water.  The lawn has to be cut.  But rest and refreshing make it all that much easier.

God’s presence, His Word, and His church are all venues of rest and refreshing.  To ignore them is to make life much harder than God ever intended.  Many place their bibles on the shelf only to retrieve them for Sunday and or Wednesday services.  Some never pray and pour out their heart to the LORD.  Many forsake the assembling of the saints for many invalid reasons.  This is foolish.  These venues are given by God for our rest and refreshing.  We may have to mow again in a few short days, but the water still runs and the recliner has not moved!