July 22, 2024 -- Mark 6:30-31 -- What does real refreshment and rest look like?

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat.
Mark 6:30-31 ESV

Two important pieces are information are necessary in order for you to understand this brief passage. First, Jesus had sent out His disciples, two by two, and gave them authority over demons and illnesses. They were sent to prepare the various towns and villages for Jesus’ arrival. The disciples would be overwhelmed by all that happened, the things the Spirit had empowered them to do and the response of the people, hungry for the Gospel. Jesus Second, Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, was beheaded by the wicked King Herod. Jesus, Who is a truly human man, is grieved at the death of His cousin.

When you are overwhelmed, grieved, overtired, what is it you turn to? Do you mindlessly watch TV, or scroll through short videos to recover? Do you figure you need to self-soothe in some way, like eating a bucket of ice cream? Notice carefully what Jesus did, how He modeled the pathway to true, life-giving refreshment. He called His disciples away to a desolate place. The same expression is used of Jesus in Mark 1:35. Jesus went to a desolate place to pray. This is the clue to what Jesus is modeling and teaching His disciples then, and through out the generations to follow.

What is restorative to the weary soul of the Christian believer? What is restorative to the grieving soul? It is time spent alone with the Father in heaven. Those who feel themselves stretched beyond their limits don’t need food or more sleep, movies or video games, the deepest longings of one’s soul are answered when the believer shuts off all the world’s distractions and finds rest for his soul in prayer with the Heavenly Father. If you struggle to know how to pray, find a Psalm that matches your emotional state and pray it. 

Feeling cut-loose from God, that He is far away? Psalm 13
Feeling hopeless and surrounded by hard circumstances? Psalm 61
Feeling depressed and all alone? Psalm 42-43
Feeling like the godless are all around you? Psalm 73
Longing to learn to obey God, but not sure how? Psalm 119 (any one of the twenty-two stanzas that are eight verses each)
Wanting to remember His blessings, His great forgiveness, and so be lifted up? Psalm 103

HEAVENLY Father, we give thee praise and thanks that upon us, the unworthy, thou dost confer so rich a benefit as to bring us into the communion of thy Son Jesus Christ; whom, having delivered up to death, thou hast given for our nourishment unto eternal life. Now also grant us grace, that we may never be unmindful of these things; but bearing them about, engraved on our hearts, may advance and grow in that faith which is effectual unto every good work; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

DIVINE SERVICE BOOK FOR THE ARMED FORCES, 1950, page 64

https://youtu.be/IyCfVKAe_lA?si=8rL3rovnmN0gZw8a Psalm 91: Word for Word (Sung Scripture)

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