Prepare for Christmas: The Tenth Day of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your heart. . . . There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work just as God did from his. Hebrews 4:7, 9-10

When I was very young, I memorized a little verse that comes to my mind now:               

Said the robin to the sparrow, “I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so.”
Said the sparrow to the robin, “Surely it must be
That they have no heavenly Father such as cares for you and me.”

As I remember these words, prompted by my reading of the Scripture in Hebrews, I feel almost compelled to move for one day from what I have been trying to write about our Great High Priest, to a time of just listening to God as he seems to be prompting us to pause, and just enjoy him. Do we harden our hearts? Do we get so busy with life and work and activity that we can’t hear God speaking to us? Are we so committed to busy-ness that even his shouts become lost in the din of our activities?

I know that my own answer to these questions has to be a resounding, “Yes!” Right now as I am hurrying to finish this devotional, I skipped right over these verses, looking further down the page to find more about Jesus. But the Lord nudged me back to see if I had skipped something important. And I had!

So I stopped, read, and confessed to him that I’m trying so hard to get through – even writing about him – that I had stopped listening. I realized afresh how easy it is to miss important things if I set my goals and rush through any passage of Scripture.

I’m trying hard to learn to listen to God. What he is saying to you may not be what he is saying to me. We’re at different places in our spiritual journey, so what we hear along that road is planned just for us individually. So today, I am not going to tell you all I’m hearing, but I do want to challenge you to do something just for yourself.

Stop where you are. Tell him you don’t want to be one of those who never “enters into rest.” (v 5) Tell him that you want to be part of the “some” (v 6) who will know the joy of just quietly resting with God. Then begin today to set a time – 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes if you think you can be still that long – just to enter into rest with God. That’s what I’m doing every morning. I’m not there yet, but I’m learning.

Prayer: Father, we have missed so much in not being still and enjoying you. Help us learn to be still and listen. We are hearing your plea that we come to you. Remind us that you call because you desire our company – desire to spend time with us. Give us please, the desire to spend time with you. Amen

And Who is Melchizedek?

An Advent Devotional Guide
prepared for Rehobeth United Methodist Church, Winter 2012,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

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