A Little R & R
This week's film, as you might deduce from the picture, is Sherlock Holmes. Released in 2009, it was a huge success and its sequel followed in 2011. The first film however follows the clever detective Sherlock Holmes as he solves the intricate mysteries of massive crimes. His faithful companion, Watson, comes along for the journey, usually saving Holmes in a pinch. This is a fantastic movie, because the more you watch it, the more you pick up on little subtleties and hints listed through the movie.
What lessons can we learn from this modern day parable? Our passage today puts us in Exodus, where we are with the Israelites who have just been freed from slavery to the Egyptians and are following Moses through the desert. The Israelites are a group blessed by God, and they are struggling with this time in the desert. They barely have enough supplies to survive and yet they keeep moving and complaining that God isn't caring for them.
This is where God does something amazing, He tells them to go to sleep, and when they wake up in the morning, there will be bread from heaven for them on the ground. They follow His command and this manna, bread, is waiting. It is in this week that we pick things up:
Exodus 16:22-26
22 And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’” 24 So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 25 Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”
This is one of the strongest and hardest concepts for the Christian mind to grasp. Sabbath and rest. Where does Sherlock Holmes come into this? Holmes is extremely observant, his powers of deduction fascinate the minds of those around him. He sits, waits, thinks, and then rushes in. Most of the time that Watson has to save him are the times that he carelessly ran into the fight without planning.
God teaches His people the concept of the Sabbath, a day where there is to be no work, just rest. For the first part of the week, if they gathered any extra manna than for just that day, then it was spoiled by the next morning. This is the concept of daily bread, looking to God each day. On the sixth day, they are told to gather TWICE as much food, so that they do not have to work on the next day.
This idea carries true to us today but we miss it. How many students here do all of their homework on Sundays? How many families bust out of church because they have tons of stuff to do? Our day that was given as a Sabbath to relax and be with God has turned into a free day to pencil in as much as we can contain.
Holmes has many fight scenes where he slows things down and runs through the fight in slow motion before it even begins, and that is what we are going to attempt to do here:
1. Sunday doesn't have to be your day of Sabbath. Yes, Sunday was the day set aside for rest, but for some this is impossible. Pastors don't rest on Sunday, that is their busiest day of the week. Pick another day, this day is a day with no agenda, just peace and being close to God. One of my mentors takes Friday as his Sabbath, a day to just relax and breathe.
2. You will wear out. No one is perfect and can go all the time. Eventually a car runs out of gas, a battery dies, or tape loses its stick. This day wasn't to stress you out because you took a day of peace, but to recharge you to your fullest. "Time is money" is said alot, so we feel like we waste a day when we don't fill it with plans.
Holmes always plans his knockout in these fights, or makes the big solve of the mystery where he lays everything out. The third point is the final takeaway and is what I'll leave you to wrestle with, as God has been having me wrestle all week with it.
3. When you stop, you can truly see where you are at. This day of relaxation and recharging were once again not meant to make us go bonkers by missing everything. A day of Sabbath in Exodus showed trust in God that He could provide for us, and we let Him. When a problem is presented in front of me, much like Holmes, it will rattle my brain and stay in it until it is solved. My body may rest but my mind goes all the time. When we truly stop for Sabbath and give it all to Him, he shows us that the problem we have been trying to solved is actually a blessing, we just never stopped to look.
In the movie Moneyball, the last scene of the film two people are watching recruits in the Minor League team. A man comes up to bat, who has a fear of rounding first and going for second because he is afraid he won't make it. He steps up to bat, swings, and sends the ball deep into the outfield. Jeremy, the batter, goes for it all, he rounds first but slips. One of the people watching the film, Peter, points out that all Jeremy's fears are coming true. But there is one key fact, Jeremy just hit a home run and he didn't even realize it because he was too busy running.
If we don't stop and be with God, then we'll just be focused on getting from base to base, and we could miss out on seeing the home run He just had us hit out of the park.
This is one of the strongest and hardest concepts for the Christian mind to grasp. Sabbath and rest. Where does Sherlock Holmes come into this? Holmes is extremely observant, his powers of deduction fascinate the minds of those around him. He sits, waits, thinks, and then rushes in. Most of the time that Watson has to save him are the times that he carelessly ran into the fight without planning.
God teaches His people the concept of the Sabbath, a day where there is to be no work, just rest. For the first part of the week, if they gathered any extra manna than for just that day, then it was spoiled by the next morning. This is the concept of daily bread, looking to God each day. On the sixth day, they are told to gather TWICE as much food, so that they do not have to work on the next day.
This idea carries true to us today but we miss it. How many students here do all of their homework on Sundays? How many families bust out of church because they have tons of stuff to do? Our day that was given as a Sabbath to relax and be with God has turned into a free day to pencil in as much as we can contain.
Holmes has many fight scenes where he slows things down and runs through the fight in slow motion before it even begins, and that is what we are going to attempt to do here:
1. Sunday doesn't have to be your day of Sabbath. Yes, Sunday was the day set aside for rest, but for some this is impossible. Pastors don't rest on Sunday, that is their busiest day of the week. Pick another day, this day is a day with no agenda, just peace and being close to God. One of my mentors takes Friday as his Sabbath, a day to just relax and breathe.
2. You will wear out. No one is perfect and can go all the time. Eventually a car runs out of gas, a battery dies, or tape loses its stick. This day wasn't to stress you out because you took a day of peace, but to recharge you to your fullest. "Time is money" is said alot, so we feel like we waste a day when we don't fill it with plans.
Holmes always plans his knockout in these fights, or makes the big solve of the mystery where he lays everything out. The third point is the final takeaway and is what I'll leave you to wrestle with, as God has been having me wrestle all week with it.
3. When you stop, you can truly see where you are at. This day of relaxation and recharging were once again not meant to make us go bonkers by missing everything. A day of Sabbath in Exodus showed trust in God that He could provide for us, and we let Him. When a problem is presented in front of me, much like Holmes, it will rattle my brain and stay in it until it is solved. My body may rest but my mind goes all the time. When we truly stop for Sabbath and give it all to Him, he shows us that the problem we have been trying to solved is actually a blessing, we just never stopped to look.
In the movie Moneyball, the last scene of the film two people are watching recruits in the Minor League team. A man comes up to bat, who has a fear of rounding first and going for second because he is afraid he won't make it. He steps up to bat, swings, and sends the ball deep into the outfield. Jeremy, the batter, goes for it all, he rounds first but slips. One of the people watching the film, Peter, points out that all Jeremy's fears are coming true. But there is one key fact, Jeremy just hit a home run and he didn't even realize it because he was too busy running.
If we don't stop and be with God, then we'll just be focused on getting from base to base, and we could miss out on seeing the home run He just had us hit out of the park.
Thanks for reading.
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