Sabbath...a Commandment i m Struggling to keep...

in this modern society, where the pace of life has increased tremendously, where the cost of living is sky-high, it is really hard for us to take a step back & find ourselves a time to rest...

many of us know tt God had ordained rest since the creation of the world. it is so impt tt God even placed it in the 10 commandments:"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Exo 20:8-11, NIV)

i must confess tt as a Christian, i know this commandment very well, but many times i would just brush it aside. very slowly, i would just slip into a routine of work & sleep so tt i can work the next day. when Sunday comes, it'll just be going to church for service, listening to the same old messages, occasionally inspiring enough to stand during altar call, only to carry on with my routine all over again when Monday comes again. Sunday has slowly turned into a time where most Christians stock up their fridges & shelves for the week, doing laundry & household chores, run errands, & totally forgotten to take a break to reflect.

well, while we have gradually placed Sabbath at the back of our minds, God hasn't forgotten His commandments to us. have you realized tt once in a while we may just fall sick for no particular reason, injured ourselves such tt we may be immobilized for a couple of days/weeks or even months? there r 2 reasons to this: 1. our physical body isn't super. like a machine, it'll break down once in a while if we dun rest it & maintain it. 2. it is also God's way to remind us to take a break from work. as we fall sick or injured, we r forced to rest, cos if we dun, we'll nvr get well. only then will we slow down our pace & sleep more, read the bible more, reflect on our past few days/weeks/months since we last rested. well, tt's what i m doing now anyway... *sheepish smile*

even now, i do have a note of warning to you who are read my blog right now. like i mentioned, when we fall sick/injured, it's God's mandatory rest. DO NOT try to work cos nothing good will come out of it. i know tt in this fast-paced world, it's not quite possible to rest even when we r down, assignments & deadlines will not be pushed back, bosses will hurry us back to work. but DO remember tt we have already violated God's 4th commandment in the 1st place, therefore dun try to push it further, or you'll regret it... & if you do keep your "make up" Sabbath, God is gracious & He will grant you the strength to complete your work b4 the deadlines... just like what i put for my MSN nick, "if u dun make time for Sabbath, God will find time for u, & u wun like it..."

Some Lessons from Sept & OT

looking back at the month of Sept, I believe tt God is teaching me to look to Him when I 1st smell trouble/problem, rather than react to it 1st, can’t handle well, emotionally drained then suddenly remembered tt I’ve forgotten to seek Daddy. I realized, many times, man tends to solve whatever problems on their own, react to things w/o thinking thru & praying thru, in the end getting themselves into bigger problems before asking Daddy for help. It’s like, if we had sought Him 1st, then tt would’ve saved us quite a bit of trouble & emotional tiredness

As I read the book of Jeremiah & Lamentations, there’s this recurring idea tt the pple din seek God & turn from their wicked ways, tt’s y the Lord continued as He had decreed to punish them severely with the attacks from Assyria & Babylon, & later the exile to Babylon. What a heavy bloodshed as a price for not turning back to God. In a similar manner, tho not as serious, we often stick to our views, our way of doing things w/o seeking God until sthg bad happens. & usually we wait till we suffered a bit b4 lamenting tt we’ve sinned. So typical of humans, the Israelites then & us now, after so many centuries, nothing has changed in human character. But we can always give thanks to God for His promise to Solomon in 2Chr 7:14, tt if we, who are called by His name, will humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways, then He will hear from heaven and will forgive our sins and will heal our land.

Out of point, you may think… I was 1st talking abt looking to God when problems 1st arise, why on earth I go on to talk abt sin & seeking God & turn from our wicked ways? When problems arise, it may not be punishment from God bcos of our sin (read Jesus’ reply in John 9:3). But if we insist on solving our way, we r kinda depriving God of the glory due Him, or it may be not having the faith tt God is our help, & tt’s sin. God’s promise to Solomon means tt at anytime we realized tt, & humble ourselves, pray & seek Him, acknowledging tt we’ve sin & unable to solve the problems by our own strength, He’ll hear from Heaven & be our help in times of need. Therefore, dun be like the stubborn Israelites, insisting on their idolatry until they had been taken captive to Babylon, then the remnants prayed to God. Seek Him 1st in everything & He’ll be our help & strength in times of trouble. & even if we have to go thru all those tough times, we can be sure tt we can have the joy & strength in Him to go thru it all… :)

*Blessed*…exceedingly too…

wat can be better than to realize tt my Daddy in heaven was by my side thru-out the whole of Sept, when I almost couldn’t carried on: 1st backstab@work ever, my aunt’s death, 1st sabotage@work. He even planned a trip to Malacca for me to relax after all these tt I went thru. (thanx Daddy…)

well, it wasn’t a fun trip, it was just a trip to relax & sightsee, to get my mind off all those events tt past. Even in difficult times, Daddy always plans beforehand to give a way out or a way of healing… for me, other than the trip, Daddy had long arranged a sweet little thing to be my comfort in times like these… Grace & I had just celebrated the ½ year mark in our relationship. It’s a blessing tt we can stay so long (or short, depending on how u look@it) in this relationship, a blessing to find a soul mate in each other, a blessing to have someone by my side when I needed support or just a listening ear, a blessing to be someone’s support or listening ear. It’s even a greater blessing to be able to worship Daddy together with her each week, to know tt it’s Daddy who has created & planned all these. (thanx again, Daddy, I love You…& u too, Grace)