Sabbath, a Milepost in Time
My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries; my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes. The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. Ps. 92:11-13, NIV.
As you stand in the checkout line of a supermarket, they are difficult to avoid. As hard as you try, every now and then you give in and read the tabloid headlines: "Pterodactyls Invade Backyard Barbecue" or "Elvis Alive and Well, Working as a Bellhop in Toledo."
Stop and consider the incredible popularity of the tabloids. Their appeal lies in their claim of knowing the unknowable.
No matter what great leaps we've taken for more than five decades in the fields of science, medicine, and technology, our human craving to know more is never satisfied. We probe the universe and beyond, and admit that there are still things to be learned and discovered on our own planet. Scientists theorize and Hollywood dramatizes the unknown, and while we have come to understand much about the present world, two places in time remain a mystery for many—the place of our beginning and the place of our end. "Prehistoric Lizard to Swallow New York in '97" hardly satisfies our need to know!
King David knew where to look for answers. He found them in the God He worshiped, and in a time and place called Sabbath. To David the momentary prosperity of the wicked meant little before the promised reality that someday the righteous would be rewarded. "My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries. . . . The righteous will flourish like a palm tree." David's peaceful, calm assurance came from a knowledge that he was shaped by the hand of the Creator, and his destiny was nothing less than eternal life in a world made new.
Every week, despite our tendency to forget, God reminds us that we are His family. We are part of His plan. From generation to generation a milepost in time called "Sabbath" invites us to put aside our fears. To lay down our temptation to rely upon great minds for answers, and instead to believe that God alone determines our destination.
May this Sabbath bless you with a reality known across the breadth of the cosmos that the past, the present, and most exciting of all, the future belong to Him. And so do you!
God of the universe, thank You for the Sabbath to remind me weekly of who I am—a person created in Your image—and where I am
going—life eternal. Regardless of tabloid headlines that could trouble my mind, I can rest in this assurance. Amen.
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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