Episode 2082 - The Power of Rest

 Good morning and welcome to this brand new day. This is scripture links daily dose of inspiration for Monday, March 11, 2024. And today is national napping day. Didn't we just have one about taking a nap not too long ago? I think we did. But you know what? You can never have enough naps. So get yourself a nap today, enjoy the day, and don't forget to take that nap. Speaking of that, we're going to look today in our study at first kings, chapter 19, verses one through eight. And we're going to see something in this story that I never really noticed before. And I think it's important for us because it gives us an important principle here. But it goes along with national napping day. And I did a study online, I did a search online, and it turns out that the average adult here in America gets less than 7 hours of sleep per night. That's interesting. Sub, article on, singlecare.com says that people with less than 7 hours of sleep often develop obesity and have a higher risk for diabetes. And if you get less than 6 hours of sleep, studies have shown that 32%, you're 32% more likely to develop hypertension. Some other notable diseases that have a higher risk when you get less than 6 hours of sleep is diseases like cancer and asthma and arthritis and depression. So it seems like we need to get some work done on our rest here. And in first, kings, chapter 19, verses one through eight, we see a story here about rest that I never really noticed before, as I've taught these verses quite often, and it never really jumped out at me that way. But, I was reading the other day in the devotional that I use in my quiet time called our daily bread. Many of you probably read that, had an article about this particular topic, and I thought, man, I never noticed that before. I got to share it with my listeners. So here we go. First kings, chapter 19, verses one through eight. And ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal, how he had slayed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger, unto Elijah, saying, so let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life like one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongeth Judah, and left his servant there, but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a judiper tree. And he requested for himself that he might die and said, it is enough now, o Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father's. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel of the Lord touched him and said unto him, arise and eat. And he looked, and behold, there was a cake, bacon on the coals and a crucif water at his head. And he did eat and drink and laid down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat 40 days and 40 nights onto, horeb, the mount of God. This is an awesome story. These are awesome chapters here in first kings because it's really practical. A lot of the lessons here is really practical for us today. And what got the story going is back in chapter 18, we see that Elijah has challenged the prophets of Baal to see who is the one true God that Israel should worship. Of course, Baal was pagan. It was idol worship. And it was most likely brought into Jerusalem by this lady named Jezebel. And so there was confliction, there in Israel, and there was a split there in Israel. And Elijah said, hey, why don't we do this? Why don't we have a showdown and see which God brings fire down from heaven? And of course, the prophets of Bao get their bull and they doing all this dancing and rigamaro and other stuff, trying to get, fire called down from heaven. And of course, nothing happens. And Elijah gets up there and gets his bull and puts a bunch of water, I mean, tons and tons of water on this bull to where it's probably sunk or even floating, makes a simple prayer. Fires down from heaven, everything is wiped away. And as a result, Elijah led the people in killing the prophets of Baal, and they were committing to serve God there. And Ahab went home, told his wife all that had happened. Of course, she, being a baal worshipper, got upset and made a threat to Elijah's life. That was the problem we see here in verses one and two. Elijah's life got threatened. So what did he do? He did what any of us are going to do. He took off running. He got to Judah and left his servant behind and went about a day's journey into the wilderness and got himself under a juniper tree. And scripture tells us that he, started praying and he said, here in verse number four, he said, it is enough, o Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father's. He's calling for the Lord to take away his life. I'm not sure if he was upset because he was running from a woman, or if he was upset because he was falling in line with the rest of the prophets that Israel had done away with, that Israel had killed. But there he is underneath that tree and makes that prayer. And then he goes to sleep. How many times do we say something stupid like that? right before we go to sleep. Maybe if we would rest on him before we make those kind of prayers, things would be different. But anyway, he goes to sleep. And in verse number five, five, six and seven tells us what the Lord's solution to this is to his problem is verse five says, and as he lay and slept under a judiper tree, behold, then angel touched him and said unto him, arise and eat. And he looked, and behold, there was a cake, bacon on the coals and a crucif water at his head. And he did eat, and he did drink and laid him down again. And an angel of the Lord came again the second time and touched him and said, arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee. So twice now the angel woke him up out of sleep to eat. Sleeping and eating. Rest and eating. Rest and strength is what he's going to need there. And the Lord knew that. That's why he gave him a time of rest. That's why he woke him up for a time of food, for a time of nourishment, and then let him rest. And then he woke him up again the second time, gave him some more food. Why? Because the journey is too great for thee. And verse number eight says, he arose and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat 40 days and 40 nights unto horeb, the mount of God. And that's where he met with God then. And he got everything straightened out that he was concerned about. But what does the story have to do with us today? All of us are facing something. All of us are facing things in our life that many people probably don't know about. But God knows. We could go. We could pray to God and give him all of our burdens. That's what Jesus said in Matthew, chapter eleven. What kind of proper spiritual diet should we have? Well, Matthew, chapter eleven and verse number 28, jesus said, come unto me, all ye that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am meek and lonely at heart. And ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. What Jesus is telling us here is that when we're going through troubles, when we're going through trials, when we're going through things that, other people don't know about, we can tell him and we can give it to him. And in exchange, he will give us rest. He will give us rest. He will give us calmness. He will give us peace. If we give him our troubles, if we give him our trials, if we give him our tribulations. What's on your mind today that's causing you to lose sleep? Another thing we need for a proper spiritual diet is found in the book of acts, chapter 17. And it's verse number eleven. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily. Whether those things were. So Paul is talking about, is writing here about the church at Berea and how they received the word with readiness of mind. But they also searched the scriptures daily. That's another key right there. If we're going to give Jesus our troubles and our trials, then we need to get into God's word before the devil comes in and gives us some more things to worry about. That angel gave Elijah a cake, bacon on the coals, and a crucifix of water. And he gave him that the second time. He fed him spiritually. But he also fed him not spiritually, but regular food as well. I can't think of a word for it. But how many times have we taken time out to rest in the Lord and to get his spiritual rest and his spiritual food? Why don't you commit to doing that today, saying, lord, lord, I'm coming to you. and here's my burdens. Here's my problems. Here's what's on my mind. I'm giving it to you, God, and then leave it there. Don't pick it up and take it back. Don't go home with it. Don't go to bed with it. Leave it there. Allow God to give you that rest. And then the next morning, get up and read your word. Read the Bible and get that spiritual food. You need to get your day started. Think about that as you go through this day. And remember, get into God's word and allow God's word to get into you. Then share that word with someone today. Have a blessed day