God is more important than your work or your time

In Numbers 29:1, we read, “On the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you will have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets.”

The first thing that we learn in this great passage is that God is more important than your work, and God is more important than your time. If you calculate how much time in this month of Aviv, the seventh month later called the month of Nissan they would have spent in fulfilling these feasts to the Lord, you would find that there wouldn’t have been much time for anything else! The important lesson here is God is more important than work; He’s more important than your time — in fact, all time belongs to Him; and He is to be woven into the fabric of our calendar, and He is to take priority over our work.

God calls us to rest. Right from Genesis 1 and 2 we see God rest and then calling his people to rest.

In a culture where we are constantly focused on work, we almost can’t put our phones down. And all the emails, messages, and the stuff that needs to be done. If we’re not careful, we can go through day after day after day, week after week after week, with very little rest. And specifically coming aside from ordinary work not just to relax and participate in hobbies, which obviously is good and can be glorifying to God, but to rest specifically with the aim of crying out to God. Pleading for God’s help and acknowledging our need for God in our lives.

This is not something that happens just accidentally. This is something that we are supposed to do intentionally. We are not under the same Old Testament laws, but certainly, this principle is for all of us who are in Christ. There needs to be time when we rest from ordinary work, and we cry out to God and just spend focused time and give focused attention to sounding the trumpets before Him.

If there is no regular pattern in which you are devoting yourself to worship and praise with the whole of who you are to the living God, He will cease to be a living reality in your life. You will have moved from no day of worship to the true God, to no God.

When we gather on the Lord’s Day to worship the living God, we declare to the world, our families, our friends, and ourselves that God is more important than our work and more important than our time.

As you consider your Sunday routine, ask yourself if it is just a routine or if it has a purpose. We are to come together in expectation and praise our Savior for all He has done. Our worship is important. It should be with total focus on Him. We should set aside this time not because we have to but because it honors Him. With this act, we should bring our own sacrifices before Him, something of value as we give back in adoration.

It is easy to speak of giving our offerings, but just as important is giving ourselves. Presenting ourselves to Him as a living, holy sacrifice brings joy to our God.

Application Questions:

1. What intentional, regular, focused rest are you getting in your life? Are you setting aside time for this?

Quote:

“If any occupation or association is found to hinder our communion with God or our enjoyment of spiritual things, then it must be abandoned. Anything in my habits or ways which mars happy fellowship with the brethren or robs me of power in service, is to be unsparingly judged and made an end of-- 'burned.' Whatever I cannot do for God's glory must be avoided.” – A. W. Pink

Prayer:

Lord, please forgive me for my busyness. Teach me to rest in a way that honors you. Amen