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Friday May 13, 2016

 

God designed and created you for a specific purpose. If you are going to fulfill His purpose for your life, you will need to have some reference points. Whether we are consciously aware of them or not, we all have reference points. These points determine where we are going, and more importantly, who we are becoming. Without them, we would not get anywhere. For example, lets say you are invited to eat at a restaurant. In order to get there, you will need to know where the restaurant is and where you are. Without these reference points, it would be impossible for you to get there. It does not matter if you drive or take an Uber; you are going to need to know where you are and where you are going. In the physical realm, whether consciously or unconsciously, we have a tendency to use reference points. However, when it comes to God’s divine purpose for our lives, we tend to ignore them.

 

Nehemiah and the workers with the help of God rebuilt the walls in Jerusalem; they no longer lived in disgrace. However, they realized that the reason they had fallen into disgrace in the first place, was that they ignored the reference points that God established for them. Seeing how God showed up and lifted them out of the disgrace in which they were living, they did not want what once happened to them to happen again. They decided that they would no longer ignore God’s established reference points; so, they wrote them down as a covenant between them and God. This would serve as a visible reminder much like the lines on a highway. They chose three specific reference points and one of them was the Sabbath.

 

“When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts.”  – Nehemiah 10:31 NIV

 

 

The Sabbath

The Sabbath is a day of rest. The Sabbath is a day to spend in the presence of the Lord. God himself established this day as a reference point for His people. One of the main purposes for the Sabbath was for it to serve as a reminder of our dependence on Him and not on the work of our own hands. It was a constant reminder that we are created by God for His purposes.

 

Nehemiah and the people realized that military weakness and financial distress were not the root cause of their problems. They realized that their downfall was directly related to them ignoring God’s law. They realized that despite their wealth and strong militia, their parents having ignored God’s law, was the reason for their downfall. Therefore, from that moment forward, they committed in writing to not ignore this important reference point.

 

We too need to observe the Sabbath; not as a religious practice, but as a reference point to help keep us on target in order for God to fulfill His divine purpose in and through our lives. We should also observe the Sabbath as a day of rest where we come into the presence of God and declare our dependence on Him instead of on the work of our hands. Nehemiah and the people needed to depend on God in order to see the fulfillment of God’s purpose for their lives. If we want to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives, we too will need to hold the Sabbath as a reference point.