Rest for the Restless

The Manna as a Memorial of God’s Provision

Well this morning we complete chapter 16 in the book of Exodus and We are gonna sort of begin at the end we have a general summary just in the structure of Chapter 16 when we begin in verse 31 to the end.

We we have sort of a general summary first a basic description of what the manna Looked like and tasted like and then also God's instructions for the Israelites According to their generations of how they were to preserve manna and therefore generationally they would have this living testimony as it were kept in the the Ark of the Covenant put before God and his dwelling place in the tabernacle and then the temple.

And so we'll begin there and then we'll move more to the core the focus of the sermon beginning in verses 16 through 30, so let's begin in verse 31 and. And the house of Israel called its name manna and it was like white Coriander seed and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey actually sounds pretty good.

Then Moses said this is the thing which the Lord has commanded Fill an omer with it to be kept for your generations. Remember an omer is the daily allotment at least for the first five days. The daily allotment would have been an omer To be kept for your generations that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt and Moses said to Aaron take a pot and put an omer of manna in it and lay it up before the Lord To be kept for your generations as the Lord commanded Moses.

So Aaron laid it up before the testimony to be kept and the children of Israel ate manna 40 years. Until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

Now an omer is one-tenth of an epa a very vital statistic there at the end. So we have this description of manna. It's like coriander seed. Roughly three to five millimeters from what I looked up of coriander seeds.

I wonder if some of you in your spice rack or your drawer have coriander seed all ground up. It would have been like airsoft BBs nice bright and white covering the field like snow. Also numbers 11 verse 7 describes it as having an appearance of bdellium.

Significant when we talk about the the priestly vestments that the high priest wore and that appears again later on in Revelation. But we'll save that for another time. But bdellium was this translucent Yellowish gum resin a sort of sap and apparently the manna had this characteristic as well.

So something translucent. Bright white it looked like frost like snow covering the ground and every morning the Israelites would go forth and gather it up and they could gather the Equivalent of an omer enough for the household each according to their need and we have that measure stated.

We have the omer and then we have this Ratio given an omer is one-tenth of an epa. We don't know exactly. How much an epa? Contained there's good reason to think and the standard answer was it's five gallons.

Five of our gallons. Some scholars debate I have no interest in spending too much time in this debate, but some would double that and say it was more likely ten gallons. I think it's safe to go with the majority here five gallons.

On that basis we have about a quart. So an omer is taken to be about a quart. If it's ten gallons then two quarts. Manna was to be preserved. However, anything that wasn't consumed within the day the next day as we'll read began to breed worms.

And it would smell would have this stench about it and would not be something anyone would want to eat. However, apparently in a miraculous way that which Aaron took up and put in the Testimony would have been preserved because all of the generations of the Israelites were to behold it now in second Kings.

We read that the manna is not present. So I don't know how that got misplaced. It seems like a lot of things get misplaced or easily forgotten in the temple of God. But nevertheless you have this instruction here.

The manna was to be taken one omer a daily ration and this was to be a visible testimony for the future Israelites that they could look back and see in the wilderness of their Ancestors in the wandering of their fathers.

God had faithfully provided bread from heaven. Now importantly we have that emphasis on later generations. And in fact this whole summary reads as something that was written at the very end of the Pentateuch.

We have a summary that could not have been known at this juncture that they ate manna for 40 years. Until they came to the border of Canaan. They did not know at this point in the unfolding history that they had another 40 years to go To make it into the land of Canaan.

So we have a sort of summary of this larger contours of how God instructed his people concerning manna. I think it's significant that God Instructed his people to preserve a ration to be held forth. Apparently priests would have on occasion taken this out of the Ark of the Covenant and shown it that's what the Lord commands right as a Testimony, this is something that they are to see right?

Take a pot put an omer of manna in it lay it up before the Lord to be kept for your generations. That's the concern and what does he want them to do that? They may see the bread with which I fed you. So our faith is not some abstract philosophy of life.

It's something deeply rooted in history. Our faith is a historical faith. And if it's not historical then we're fools and we're wasting our time to be here on a rainy Sunday morning together. Our faith is rooted in history and God wanted to ensure that.

The manna that was fed in the wilderness wasn't viewed as an allegory or a fable. Or just something that moms and moms and dads told their little children. This was something they could go and see. This is what it was like.

This is what they ate. This was what was gathered by Aaron the high priest. This is what was put in the Ark of our Covenant. Now we go to verse 16 and Are gonna change directions a little bit and focus more on the manna and then this command regarding this Sabbath.

Daily Provision, Equality, and Paul’s Collection for the Saints

So let's begin in verse 16. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded. Let every man gather according to each one's need one Omer for each person according to the number of persons. Let every man take for those who are in his tent.

Then the children of Israel did so and gathered some more some less. So when they measured it by Omer's he who gathered much had nothing left over and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one's need and Moses said let no one leave any of it till morning.

Not withstanding they did not heed Moses get ready to continually encounter this refrain. They did not heed Moses. Some of them left part of it until morning and it breadworms and it stank and Moses was angry with them.

So they gathered it every morning every man according to his need and when the Sun became hot it melted. And so it was on the sixth day that they gathered twice as much bread two Omer's for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses we'll pause there.

You notice this opening command let every man gather it according to each one's need. It sounds vaguely like Marx at least toward the end from each according to his ability to each according to his need.

Never quite worked out for the Marxist revolutions. That's what happens when you deny the depravity of man ends up not being according to one's ability and certainly not according to one's need. But here you notice we're far from Marxism in God's economy.

It's each gathering For themselves and their own so each must gather and yet it is according to need. In other words. There's no place for hoarding here. Each one gathers according to their need as an old southern preacher said not according to his greed.

All right, God provides according to needs not according to greed. So here the men are the gatherers in that whole hunter-gatherer debate here the men are the gatherers. They're going out into the fields to gather up the manna.

Paul takes this and quotes this in 2nd Corinthians 8 when he speaks about giving in general. It's one of the ways that we understand how Paul Understood to apply the Old Testament to the life of the church and here he takes this Principle of the manner of giving the manner of providing and he applies it to the church at Corinth in terms of this Collection for the relief of the poor in Judea.

And he says this 2nd Corinthians 8 for I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened. All right. This is something that's going out to all of the churches and he's completely Refreshed by the Corinthians desire and he's putting before them the example of the Macedonian believers who have excelled above all.

He says I don't mean that others should be eased and you be burdened. But by inequality that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack that their abundance also may supply your lack that there may Be a quality as it is written he who gathered much had nothing left over he who gathered little had no lack.

You see Paul is taking this instance of Exodus 16 Quoting it in terms of how the church should consider giving to those in need. Giving in a liberal freeway as God's good provision and you simply meet the need.

There doesn't need to be something Excessive and there shouldn't be any lack. There's this freedom because it's God who has provided as God freely and richly provides for his people so his people can Freely and richly provide for others in need and yet each one that's incumbent upon themselves.

Each one must gather for themselves and their own. That's the principle comes up again in the pastoral epistles. The Lord ensures that there's no place for hoarding not just by instruction but by transformation.

Something happens overnight to that bread that would turn your stomach. I found when I was in Texas, I I took home some some treats for the girls, so I went to this little candy store and They had a jelly belly bean boozled.

Has anyone heard of this? So jelly belly makes this little game you can buy it's a box of jelly beans and and there's there's two in there. One of their normal very good flavor and one that looks exactly alike and it's a disgusting flavor.

The mild the mild one would be like toothpaste, but then you get dirty dishwater rotten eggs stink bug. I mean it gets pretty bad. So I took this to my parents house. We're all sitting around and Thanksgiving and after in between dessert.

We're all doling out jelly beans, you know and seeing who got what of course my first spin I got rotten egg and that pretty much put a damper on the rest of the evening for me. So I couldn't help but taste that in the back of my mind when I think I thought about.

You know someone waking up in the morning not really having their eyes open, you know. Pulling out the pot of coffee grabbing some of that manna and they put in their mouth and as they begin to chew. Things aren't looking so well.

What a revolting picture is that the Lord ensures that there'll be no hoarding. The Lord ensures that you won't be out in the middle Of the night gathering more than anyone else. There won't be a run at the supermarket when it comes to this manna.

This will just be a daily bread a daily allotment. What a revolting picture. I remember I used to get One of my good friends. We've been praying for him dawn. He used to faithfully. Every morning go and get me a cup of coffee.

It was part of his morning routine. And so he just made it a blessing for me. And so every morning I'd get This is like, you know, probably why I'm gonna lose my feet in ten years. But every morning I'd get two doughnuts and a coffee and so it's just the highlight of my morning that morning break came.

There was nothing like it. But there was this bin off to the side in the back of the warehouse and would throw Discarded scraps and every now and then I was too busy to finish that last jelly donut. So everything got kind of stuffed in that bin and I remember one day We went over to empty out that bin and there was all manner of Maggots and it was.

I couldn't eat doughnuts for like a month after that whenever I saw it. I don't know how these Israelites put up with seeing the worms and and the stench. But somehow they understood we have to consume everything and the next day the Lord will provide.

And I see this as a larger principle in in the way God providentially provides for us. He's faithful to put worms Into those things that would cause us not to trust him not to lean on him or would otherwise lead us astray.

It's what we saw in hang I to a few weeks ago, right. You sought after much but it came to nothing. Why. Because I blew it away because my house lies in disrepair. So God's faithful to frustrate. To collapse to put worms to make something obnoxious to give something a stench.

When it's not toward him for him from him by him. When it doesn't have an eye to his priorities for your life. What he calls to be a blessing when it's the kind of pursuit that would lead you away from him away from the faith.

Away from the things that he says are worth your effort worth your energy worth your concern. Some of us have had to learn the hard lesson of finding worms in the bread. Because our our flesh was involved we were hoarding we were seeking we were ambitious we weren't wise weren't thoughtful we weren't putting the kingdom and the righteousness first and trusting that all the other things would be provided and God puts worms in.

All those things that otherwise would be food would be bread to us. So I take that as a principle as J. R. Miller says we cannot get grace today for tomorrow's duty. And if we try to bear tomorrow's burdens today, we'll break down in the attempt.

God loves daily provision. He says don't ask for me to provide tomorrow. Just trust that I will provide for tomorrow and ask me to provide for you today. Don't pray for tomorrow's bread pray for the bread today.

He's all about grace in the moments mercy renewed in the morning. Don't wait for mercy in the next season. Today's the day of salvation. God loves moving not in necessarily a spawn spawn spontaneous way but in a way of urgent Inculcation.

He loves growing his people's trust independence upon him hour by hour moment by moment. And that's what we see him doing with the Israelites here. He's fitting them for an inheritance Verse 23 another step forward and how God will fit and prepare his people.

Then he said to them. This is what the Lord has said tomorrow is a Sabbath rest a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Clearly we have something of the Sabbath contained in Genesis 2 7 and 13 however Formally speaking.

This is the first description the first mention of what we understand to be Sabbath proper in the Pentateuch. This is the first time as we've begun reading scripture that we come across something identifiably Recognizable as the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.

Clearly we have it contained within Genesis 2. This gives us a lens to look back toward that there's debate over whether The forbearers kept this. I think there's good reason to think that they did. But here we have the formal instruction given to the Israelites who as slaves most certainly did not keep the Sabbath.

How could they have kept the Sabbath under the demand of the taskmasters under the direction of the serpentine ruler Pharaoh? So this is what the Lord says tomorrow is a Sabbath rest a holy Sabbath to the Lord.

Bake what you will bake boil what you will boil lay up for yourselves all that remains to be kept into the morning. So they laid it up till morning as Moses commanded and it did not stink nor were there any worms in it?

So miraculously just as God could preserve that jarred Omer in the Ark of the Covenant. For the future generations of his people. He can also preserve it for the night. You see God's providential control in a way that blesses rather than hinders his people's faith in him.

He can preserve by the way brothers and sisters He can preserve your pursuits your endeavors your labors your toils your cares. He can make sure there's no worms in it. If you have the right priority.

If it will be a genuine blessing to you and not something that will cause you to stumble. Our God is able to preserve it unto you and here the Israelites experience that. It's not something to do with the manna itself, but rather God's providential and sovereign control over the manna.

He can preserve it an extra night in order to give his people a rest. Moses said eat that today for today is a Sabbath to the Lord today. You will not find it in the field. Not only is it preserved in the household during the night.

But it's also not spread on the Sabbath day as they go out. There's nothing to gather six days. You shall gather it. But on the seventh day the Sabbath there will be none first thing to notice about this is The Sabbath as the fourth commandment has not yet been given.

But here we have the instruction of observing the Sabbath. And so if there's an argument that somehow it's a ceremonial commandment. Would have to wrestle with why it appears here. Why does God already begin to set this before his people?

We have a lot more to say on this then we'll say today when we get to the fourth commandment a lot more to say about how to understand the nature of the ceremonial aspects of the Sabbath and Sabbath keeping for the Israelites and what it means for us to have a rest that remains so I've spoken of this in the past in mark 2 in Genesis 2.

I'm not gonna spend too much time laying out the big picture of the Sabbath or the building blocks of the Sabbath. Maybe we'll rehearse that when we get to Exodus 20 here. I want to move on a little bit.

But again, there's much to say about this appearing even prior to the Sinai Covenant though at Sinai. It becomes a sign of the Sinai Covenant according to Exodus 31. And attempting to save themselves from the toil which God commanded the Israelites Kept the manna in Defiance.

That's something that we saw that they kept the manna and it was this willful defiance against God's provision and yet when God Instructed them to keep it and they kept it. It preserved them and gave them a day of rest without the need to gather and their stomachs were full at the end of the Sabbath Day, and that to me is this picture of our unbelief.

Fear not little flock. It's the father's goodwill to provide for you. But there's a willfulness in our unbelief. This frenzy that makes us hoard to gather up to go out into the field even when there's nothing to gather and to run our hands through thorns and thistles and Try to provide something for ourselves whether that's a covering or a provision or a direction or some motivation.

We go forth and we're refusing God's commands to rest. I Tell you to stay in and rest. You stay in and rest. I will meet your needs. But there's a willfulness on a part of the people of God. When they're commanded to rest they want to labor and when they're commanded to labor they want to rest.

This is a problem with the people of God. We're passive and lazy and the things that we should be active and zealous about and we're active and zealous in all the ways that We should be careful thoughtful and resting.

This is an example of living by sight rather than living by faith an example of going out with a dependence upon their arm rather than on the hand of God a dependence upon Themselves their their efforts their labors rather than a dependence upon God.

And why is God doing this? Is this the only way to feed the Israelites? He chose to feed them in this way so that he could Continually teach them not only his ability to provide But his desire to provide.

I have a care for you. He says cast your burdens on me. I Know that you're hungry. I know that you're weary. I know that you're tired. Let me give you rest and let me give you food. It's not just that I can it's that I want to.

It's not just that I'm able it's that I will I promise to and So God is teaching this lesson to his people. Calling them to be not anxious or distrustful, but to be faithful Independent upon him. Jesus taught us to pray give us this day our daily bread.

And if you're I'm sure like many of us you you you're thinking give us this week or this bi-weekly.

Budget.

You know. Give us our groceries for the week and we tend to forget the daily provision the constant compassion of our God. There's a reason Jesus taught us to pray give us this day. The same thing James warns against don't have this this sense that everything's gonna work out.

We're gonna go to such-and-such a city at such-and-such in time and this is how everything's gonna go. Don't be presumptuous. Give us this day our daily bread. Tomorrow we'll we'll do that prayer.

We'll do the George Mueller prayer tomorrow. Give us today our daily bread. And if our cupboards are full and our refrigerators are full and Our basement freezers haven't you know shorted or been left open then we ought to be very thankful for God's provision each day.

The Sabbath as a Gift, Not a Burden

Verse 27 here we see this willful disobedience. Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day together, but they found none big surprise. What did they expect. Moses had said from the Lord's own revelation when you go out on that seventh day, there'll be nothing to gather.

But they go out on the seventh day and lo and behold, there's nothing to gather. Why is it that we test the Lord God? We don't believe him at his word. The Lord said to Moses how long do you refuse to keep my commandments in my laws?

See.

For the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Please notice the emphasis there. Doesn't say the Lord has required of you this Sabbath. The Lord has given you this Sabbath. To remember the toil that caused you to cry out at the beginning of Exodus.

To remember the whiplash is on your back and the restlessness that took all your strength and vitality. Do you remember the the tragedy of lamenting that your children and your children's children would be enslaved their whole lives?

Because of what was exacted upon you by your taskmasters that endless labor. But lo I give you rest. He said I'm giving you a Sabbath. Not only will I not whip your back. Not only why not In a cruel way force you to produce.

I'll give you bread. Open the door flap of your tent and scoop up what you need for the day and on top of that I give you rest. Look at this gracious provision. See for the Lord has given you the Sabbath and Therefore he gives you on the sixth day bread for two days.

Let every man remain in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. Finally one of these rare gems in the midst of these chapters the people actually obey. So the people rested on the seventh day music to our ears.

They actually followed through at least some of them as we'll see. In total disregard of what Moses had said some go out on the seventh day to gather. And again, you remember this picture. Remember verse 4 the Lord said to Moses behold I will rain bread from heaven for you and the people will go out and gather a certain quota every day.

Why? Not only to show his ability not only to show his care but also verse 4 That I may test them to see whether they'll walk in my law or not. So not only do we see God's sovereign provision. Not only do we see God's fatherly care.

But also we see a God who wants to test the faith of his people. He wants to prove the work of grace that redemption has wrought a Certain quota is allotted every day. He's showing that he can make it rain from the heavens and why so that he can test them to see whether they'll walk according to his law.

So here we see that even the gracious provision of God is meant to be something that tests and proves our faith. As one said joy tests us just as well as sorrows. It's not just through deprivation that the people of God are tested.

It's through provision that the people of God are tested. Think of Daniel coming in to.

The the.

Babylonian gore man's dream.

All the.

Delicacies and delights. Something that Food Network couldn't even dream of. This endless feast spread before him and Daniel and his compatriots recognize. We're gonna sell our souls if we give ourselves over to that kind of luxury.

I'm not only tested when I'm deprived. I'm tested when I'm blessed when there's this kind of luxury spread before me. I need to be mindful and guarded over my soul. It's not just the loss that will prove me but also the gain that will prove my faith.

Will I lose my sense of dependence upon God? Will I forget all his benefits? Will I fail to bless his name? Will I not have thankfulness in my heart? Do we remember always that God is the giver of blessing?

We're now what a week a week in some days past Thanksgiving. Have we maintained that Thanksgiving spirit? It seems like Thanksgiving comes and goes in a shorter and shorter breath the shorter span. Are we grateful for him to what we receive?

This is one of the ways the people would have been equipped to rest on that that glorious seventh day. They would have rested in the goodness of God. They would have looked back with Thanksgiving to all that he had provided and say we don't need to provide tomorrow.

He's given us the Sabbath another reason to bless his name another reason to be thankful. Do we obey God as carefully and follow him as closely when our tables are full as when they're empty. We all are driven to trust and depend upon God when there's a pressing need.

But do we trust and depend on God when we don't have that pinch of a need? I? Fear that in our flesh and in our sort of manner of provision that we're not prone to depend on God in ways that we should and for that reason.

The tables being full the manna being showered from heaven the disobedience of the people here is almost more shameful. You can never give them a pass, but you could certainly be more sympathetic if they were starving and.

They go out on the seventh day, and they're just scraping through the dirt trying to find something to put in their mouth. You could say I even then you're disobeying the command, but I sympathize with you you were desperate.

All right, we don't give. Jesus doesn't say well, I'm starving so I guess I'm gonna make these stones bread. So so if Jesus recognized even that desperate plight would be sinful would be disobedient to God.

Then we would say it's the same for the Israelite, but we would certainly sympathize with them out of their great need. They were driven to disobey. The tragedy of Exodus 16 is that it's not out of need.

They have that allotment which is more than enough. They're always satisfied. There's there's never anything left over and there's never. I wish I just had a little bit more. They're always perfectly content and Yet though their table is full though.

They're perfectly satisfied with what God has provided. They willfully disobey him not out of need not out of hunger not out of the pinch of desperation but just out of willful Disobedience a willful distrust of God and it's shameful.

There's an indifference to God's command that we see here developing in some of the Israelites in indifference. We'll decide what's best for us. We'll do what we see as necessary. We won't as Jesus Fulfilled we won't know how to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

We'll live by bread alone the bread that we'll seek to gather in our own way. Of course, this wasn't done by all. Apparently there was only a few that did this but it was enough to warrant God's rebuke.

And that is also something that as a people as a church we need to take into account. There doesn't have to be some 90 majority for God's rebuke or God's chastisement to fall we're all interwoven as stones being chiseled into this glorious temple this abode of the Spirit and Because we're all this royal priesthood.

Even if some of us are Giving ourselves over to Murmuring or groaning if some of us are indifferent to God's commands if some of us are thoughtless about what God has required. We can expect that the rebuke may come to all.

Notice that God rebukes Moses and it's a rebuke that's given to all of Israel. Even though only some of the Israelites went forth and the idea here is at least some of the Israelites are going. What is he doing?

Why is he out in the field? Doesn't he not know what Moses said? There wasn't a watchfulness. There wasn't a guardedness. And the Christian Church John Urquhart says which does not mourn the sin in its midst has no living trust in God.

Again, they're living by sight. They're not living by faith. And without faith, it's impossible to please him. Because he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

Manna is given every day even to these faithless Disobedient rebels manna is there. God rebukes them and yet provides for them. How many times have we seen that lesson in our own lives. God rebukes us and yet he still provides for us.

But woe to us if from those very examples we don't learn how to live by faith and not by sight. Learn how to diligently seek him because he's a rewarder of those who seek him. Well, the biggest command here is More a gift than a command, right?

There's a command that comes with the Sabbath. But to make it like it's some harsh. Unfair requirement of God is to mischaracterize what the Sabbath is and I emphasize again He has given you the Sabbath.

He has not burdened you with the Sabbath. He's given you the Sabbath so that you would not be burdened. And so we look at this larger picture of rest and we look at this Sabbath command. And I want to in our application now, I want to look at that through three different angles in some ways they all overlap, but I Want to try to divide them into three different angles three lenses at which we can look at this larger picture of rest.

Not necessarily the Sabbath proper but this larger picture of rest and how that fits together with the Sabbath. Again, there's a lot more to say when we get to Exodus 20 if I had a whole.

Whole.

Separate sermon this morning. We would just look at John's gospel and see how John employs the first day in the seventh day and that glorious eighth day which is the new first day the new creation all these beautiful themes of this number six of incompletion and lack of fulfillment and the glorious fulfillment and John is Structuring in a very Sabbatarian way his theology of Jesus work his his redemption.

So that that'll we'll get there in due time, but for now just maybe more practically. How are we to understand rest? How are we to understand rest? Specifically rest for the workmen. Rest for the worker those who labor those who toil rest for the workmen.

Rest for the warrior and finally rest for the weary. So rest for the workmen the warrior and the weary. First for the workmen. We're in the context of Exodus and all these once enslaved Israelites had been workmen slaves toilers laborers.

By doubling the manna on the sixth day The Lord makes it possible for his people to cease gathering food on the seventh day. So not only does he provide daily bread, but he gives them an opportunity to Rest from their labor again.

This is not something they had experienced as slaves. Remember Exodus chapter 5 beginning in verse 4 the king of Egypt said to them Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor.

And Pharaoh said look the people of the land are many and you make them rest from their labor. Pharaoh's saying how dare you give these people rest from their labor. You've taken them from that enslaved toil from what they produce all that I need for my empire.

How dare you release even the slightest chain of their bondage? How dare you give them even a day of rest? You take the people from their work you make them rest from their labor. And so what does he do as a result of that?

He commands his taskmaster saying no longer. Shall you give the people straw to make brick? Let them go now and gather straw for themselves. So not only does he say I don't want them to have rest now.

He increases the toil. He increases the pain of the labor. No longer straw to make brick. But rather gather your own straw to make brick the same quota as before. So this is the beginning of this contrast.

The serpentine ruler the one who loves to see the image of God and bondage. What does he do? He refuses to give the people rest. He doubles down on their enslavement. He makes their toil even more soul-crushing.

It causes them to lash out against Moses. Look at the trouble you've inflicted us with so here there's no rest. No, no relief whatsoever. And then God by contrast says I'm giving you rest from your labor.

I'm giving you a day where you don't have to go forth and gather where you can simply arrest and enjoy all that I've provided. Every need has been met. You can depend on me and trust me. But often we want to work or spend ourselves out of this restless spirit.

Which denies the gracious provision of God right at root is our pride. This is something that we'll see next week in SLBC. Not tonight. We'll get there next week with some readings from William Grinnell, which I'm very excited about.