Take Time to Be Holy
“Be Still and Know that I Am God.”
As I read the Forward Day by Day Reading for Today, the following words registered with me,
“He Keeps Going Out to Deserted Places to Rest”
The Passage in Luke makes the point that even Jesus needed time to rest, He needed time to be still:
The passage talks about the Sabbath, and I recalled the following:
Remember the Sabbath Day and Keep It Holy
He Rested on the Seventh Day
8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 For six days you shall labour and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaand earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. Exodus 20:8-11
He Rested on the Seventh Day
Today, I am seeing that rest–perhaps stillness –is part of the mindset of being holy.
The Sabbath is a Day that We Cease Our Other Labours and Allow Ourselves to Be Still and Hear the Voice of God.
On Other Days, We Become Still to Pray
Lord, Teach Me to Pray
Psalm 38:8 – I am utterly spent and crushed;
I groan because of the tumult of my heart.
9 O Lord, all my longing is known to you;
my sighing is not hidden from you.
10 My heart throbs, my strength fails me;
as for the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me. ….
15 But it is for you, O Lord, that I wait;
it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. …
17 For I am ready to fall,
and my pain is ever with me.
18 I confess my iniquity;
I am sorry for my sin. …
21 Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, do not be far from me;
22 make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation Psalm 38:8-22
Psalm 119:64
64 The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love;
teach me your statutes. ,,,
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105
Collect for Purity
“Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.” Book of Common Prayer
Forward Day by Day Reading May 7, 2025
Luke 4:42. At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them.
“Holy“Sabbath is one of the most difficult spiritual practices. It is also one of the most important ones. The technologies that help us do so much also make it difficult to disconnect and put some distance between ourselves and our work. So often, we convince ourselves that we just don’t have the time to step back from our list of tasks to rest and dwell in the presence of God.
“This passage, like so many others in the gospels, makes it clear that Jesus saw regular time for rest as an essential part of being human. Over the course of his three years of preaching, teaching, and healing, Jesus regularly went out into the desert to rest.
“The description of an interrupted sabbath in today’s passage is comforting to me. It reminds me that even our Lord faced interruptions in his attempts to rest. The lesson for me is that Jesus never gives up on the practice. He keeps going out to deserted places to make time for rest.
“MOVING FORWARD: How will you practice the spiritual discipline of sabbath this month?” Forward Day by Day
He Keeps Going Out to Deserted Places to Make Time to Rest
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