If you're one of those people that has a bias towards activity, this is for you. It certainly is for me, it's out of the gospel of Mark and it's chapter six in verse 31, it says, and he said, unto them come yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while. God wants you to rest. He designed rhythms of rest into your life. He said there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
They didn't even have time to eat. So here in Mark chapter six and verse 31, Jesus is calling the disciples apart into a desert place to rest a little bit. He was concerned that they were becoming incredibly exhausted. They were worn out by the demands of the schedule and by the people that were draining them. It's very easy in life to find yourself at that place where you're drained. I experienced that myself a number of years ago, I hit a brick wall. I'm one of those guys that I've gotta be active.
I've got to be moving. I need to be doing something. I've got a bias towards action. Probably you're that way. There's been periods of time in my life. When I've worked two full time jobs and done ministry. For the bulk of my ministry, I was preaching over 200 times a year. I was counseling almost on a daily basis. I was making between 30 and 50 contacts a week. I mean, I was studying all the time. I was, I was visiting all the time.
I was doing work around the house all the time. I was just never still. And God had to bring me to a place where he shut that stuff down. I mean, I hit a brick wall and I don't want you to hit that brick wall. So I want you to learn the lesson that I didn't learn. You need to build rhythms of rest into your life. Pastor Jesse sort of kidnapped me the other day and took me up cat fishing. And we had a great time. And boy, I gotta tell you, I didn't know how much I needed it until I got it. Just getting away from all of the activity.
It wasn't for a long period of time, less than 48 hours. But boy, that was something that was restorative to my soul, getting beside some water and yanking some great, big old catfish, that just blessed my soul. You need to get quiet. You need to get away from the hassle. You need to get away from the hustle and come apart. Vance Havner, who graduated out of the same class as Billy Graham did out of Columbia Bible Institute. He was less famous, but maybe even a better preacher, he was dynamic. one of the things that he said, commenting on this passage, “come ye apart before you come apart,”. Don't, don't get a break down before you get a breakthrough of learning how to have the rhythms of rest in your life. So how do you do that in a practical way? Let me give, insight that I gained from an older preacher,
Divert daily. That means every day, find some time to do something that you love to do that recharges you,for me, that's usually reading.
Reading is something that recharges me. If I could live in the ideal place on the planet, I'd live inside a library. Books are something that feeds me. I love listening to stories, reading stories that recharge me. I can't always sit down and read, but I do always have audio books that I listen to, and that is restorative to me. So sometimes even when I'm doing dishes or doing some light cleanup around the house, I can listen to something that recharges me.
Often just going down to a park, sitting and getting quiet and resting that may be restorative to your soul. That's something that maybe you need to start doing. So definitely we need to restore our souls, divert daily and then withdraw weekly for a significant period of time on the weekend. Or sometime when you can get away, get away for a few hours, maybe go catch a movie or go out on a date night with your mate, do just go.
And what Vance Havner did is he was a birdwatcher. And so he kept a book where he journaled and kept the track of the birds that he saw. And whenever he would go to preach someplace, he would always take some time away to do birdwatching in that new place. Wade Jernigan who built the Free Will Baptist church here in Jerome and about 20 other churches across the United States of America. For him, it was fishing no matter where he would go, he would spend some time fishing. And that was one of the primary places that God fed his soul.
And he did a mighty work for God. They're literally churches across the United States that happened because this man understood how to build rhythms of rest, into a very busy life, abandon annually, divert daily, withdraw weekly, abandon annually every year, get a vacation. I violated this in ministry. There, there were years that I didn't go anywhere. I didn't do anything. And it was a mistake and I've confessed, and repented of.
And I believe that God wants me to build a rhythm, a pace of grace that I can keep until I die. And that's my intention. Now I, God has allowed me to do this ministry where I'm doing devotions daily and I've been able to do some pulpit preaching, but I need to find a pace of grace that I can keep until I die. One that won't wear me out or burn me out. I don't believe God wants that. Well, anyway, that's the nightlight for tonight coming apart and rest, take some time to rest, take some time every day to breathe.
And to be in that moment, don't try to think about the future. Don't fret over the past. Try to be in that moment. So I'm in this beautiful park. The sun is filtering down through the trees and it's just dropped dead gorgeous. I need to take a little bit of time before I go home to kind of breathe deep and listen to a little canal. That's flowing over here to the side of me and listening to that water and feeling that sunshine on my face and just let rest,come to my soul. I think maybe you need that to maybe go down to a little park, get some rest, but somehow divert daily, withdraw weekly and abandon annual let's pray.
Dear Lord, God, I thank you for this day. And I thank you for these dear ones that are listening to my voice right now. And I pray that they would not make the same life mistakes that I made God, I Lord, you know, that I was having panic attacks and I thought I was having a heart attack. I thought I was dying in God. And you had to do that to slow me down. I just pray that you would help them to learn this lesson now that they might be effective for you over a lifetime. And that they would really enjoy each moment of each day and not just live at the next appointment or the next counseling session or the next sermon.
But instead let them be rested and refreshed and ready to communicate your word to a tense world, help us to get relaxed so that we can speak to the tense around us. Give us your strength in Jesus name. Amen.
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