“The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord
blesses his people with peace.” – Psalm 29:11 NIV
We would like to have rest peacefully when
we are fatigue and weary. We often think of having a vacation, such as going
somewhere and have some time off at beaches. Otherwise, we might go to deck or
outside of our house to get some fresh air. This is because we do not have
enough strength to carry on whatever we are doing. Having rest is necessary to
our lives as rest provides us enough energy and strength to endure our next
tasks. In fact, God rested on the seventh day after He had done everything and
created everything in proper place, and God made seventh day to be holy (Genesis 2:2-3) In addition, Jesus Christ
rested after doing His work (Matthew 8:24) and He even told His apostles
to have some rest (Mark 6:31-32). Whether we are Christian or
not, having some rest is okay; we are not supposed to work all day. Furthermore,
I think Korean parents need to learn that having a rest for a while is good for
our health, even though all of us study and work dilligently. The main reason
for this is that Korean culture usually is very strict on students and kids,
and might be even adults, due to the fact that Korean culture pushes them to
study and work all day, in order for them to go to good school, university, and
workplace. Many Korean students go to their academy right after school has
finished, or even if they do not have enough time to rest, to continue on their
studies until night time. These does not mean that every Korean student and kid
needs to rest for a quite long time, but Korean culture should control and work
on time-managements.
At that time Jesus
went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and
began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this,
they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the
Sabbath.”
He answered,
“Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He
entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated
bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t
you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate
the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the
temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not
sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is
Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:1-8)
In Noah, the one of the Christian movies,
Noah reminds His kids that the strength comes from the Creator when he and his
kids were discussing the reason why people eat animals. It is often true that physical
strength comes from eating food, even though they are not parts of an animal. I
often cannot concertrate at anything when I am hungry. As physical strength
comes from eating physical food, spiritual strength comes from the Creator (Philippians 4:13) and His Word (Romans 15:4-6). Nevertheless, when I look
and meditate on the word ‘strength’ through the Bible, the word ‘humbleness’
comes out of my head. If we are humble enough before the Lord, we might have
hope in Him. The Hope of God creates some kind of strength that we are willing
to endure everything for the sake of the kingdom of heaven (Romans 15:13). Isaiah 40:29-31 states, “He gives strength to the weary and
increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young
men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they
will walk and not be faint.” I experienced this when I was doing 5K
run/walk/crawl in New York. This is because I was doing this as a volunteer in
helping out financially for building the wall of the school in Nicaragua that
my New York church support. When I was tired and weary from running during 5K
run/walk/crawl, I reminded myself that I was doing this only for the wall of
the school in Nicaragua. This was the way to expand the kingdom of God as my
church was doing for the children.
Give praise to the
Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to
him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy
name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and
his strength; seek his face always. (1 Chronicles 16:8-11)
Furthermore, Jesus Christ told His
disciples, before His crucifixion, to pray that they would not fall into
temptation when their eyers were very heavy, and Jesus added, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is
weak.” (Matthew 26:41) To be honest, many people
say that I am a prayer warrior but I am actually not. Although I would like to
pray intimately before God about others, I feel it is not right to pray for others
when I am falling short in the glory of God because of Matthew 7:3-5. Therefore, I have to make sure
that I am not falling short of the glory of God before I really can pray for
others. Not only Matthew 7:3-5 hinders me to pray for them,
but time also hinders me as well as I really can pray intimately for them before
I sleep, which usually is late or past midnight. If I pray for them intimately
past midnight, then I probably could not wake up early to write devotionals for
others. Writing devotionals for others is the will of God for me because of the
empowerment of the Spirit of God. Thus, I am bit selfish in a way and since Philippians 2:3-4 tells me not to, I am
willing to pray whenever I can (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Ephesians 6:18) and always have to believe
that I am becoming perfect through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:14; Colossians 1:21-23).
Rejoice in the
Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to
all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every
situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to
God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)
Although we often believe that worldly
things create peace within us, such as watching television, especially when we
have headaches. I even thought that I have to watch television to create peace
in my mind when I have headaches other than going for a walk. It often works.
However, this peace is for temporary, and there is eternal peace that all of us
are able to have but this is only through Jesus Christ (John 14:27). We have to remember that the
reason why God has reconciled to us through Jesus is to make eternal peace
through Him (Colossians 1:19-20). Therefore, I changed
my plan of getting rid of headaches—instead of watching television, I turn
Spotify on and listen to some of the worship and gospel music that I have
stored in it. Surprisingly, it works. In addition, Psalm 119:165 declares, “Great peace have those who love your law, and
nothing can make them stumble,” so I have to abide in the word of God intimately
(2 Timothy 3:16-17). ‘For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness
that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will
live by faith.”’ (Romans 1:17)
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and
who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by
streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not
wither—whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)
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