Fervent Chapter 8 – Your Pressures
If I were your enemy, I’d make everything seem urgent, and as if it’s all yours to handle. If I could keep you busy enough, you’d be too overwhelmed even to realize how much work you’re saving me. (Fervent p133)
We are under pressure to keep up, to stay relevant, to say yes to everything, to lose weight, to be interested in certain things, to be the perfect mother, wife, and friend. Don’t get me wrong, some pressure is good, it is what keeps us moving at a good pace. But how much is too much? How do we know if we have crossed that line?
If we are continually feeling the tension between not being enough and exhausted, that is too much pressure. If we are feeling coldhearted, selfish and snooty for trying to have boundaries, and still don’t have time to do what God has called us to do, we might be under too much pressure.
It is that deceitful voice in our heads that keeps pushing us to compete, to feel insufficient, and never to feel like we are enough, that we need to shut down. Not just turn down the volume but shut down completely.
How does the introduction of the word Sabbath sit with you? What is your understanding of the concept of the Sabbath? How do you keep the Sabbath?
I would like to insert an announcement in here right now. God has been talking to me a lot about the Sabbath and how it should look in my life, right now today. So I am happy to announce that our next Bible Study, starting in September will be “Breathe – making room for the Sabbath” by Priscilla Shirer. I am so excited to dig into this concept of stopping, resting, shutting off, stepping away, pulling back, taking a deep breath – this command of taking a Sabbath. Won’t you join me?
So, as the thought of deliberately choosing a rhythm of rest and margin starts to sink in, let’s work on putting together a prayer strategy for discerning the places that God wants to see us pull back and places where He wants to see us gain control.
This week I am choosing the following verses to pray and meditate on:
“I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation my stronghold; I will never be shaken.” Psalm 62:1-2
“If you….call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 58:13-14
“You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:32
