Week 1, Day 5 - Christmas Reinforcements

"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. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following in their example of disobedience." Hebrews 4:9-11

REFLECT

It was one of the harshest winters in memory in the Ardennes, also one of the most intense battles of World War II. Later they called it the Battle of the Bulge, because the German offensive took Allied forces completely by surprise. In the end, however, the line held - only bulged in the middle.

On Christmas Day, General McAuliffe's men were hunkered down in the town of Bastogne, Belgium, completely encircled by German troops. They had been besieged by seventeen different assaults on the town and relentlessly bombed. But when presented with the option of surrendering by German envoys, General McAuliffe's response was a single word: "Nuts."

Bombs fell all Christmas day and night, but the following day the 4^th Armored Division of General George Patton arrived - the reinforcements the Allied troops had been hoping for all along. Within a month this battle was over, and the march to Berlin began. It was the beginning of the end.

The Bible describes life as full of battles, and that is one reason we need Sabbath. We need the bombing to stop. We need reinforcements to arrive. When Hebrews 4 says that a "Sabbath rest remains" it is not only referring to the rest we enter each Sabbath, but ultimately the "rest" we enter by accepting and embracing the Lordship of Jesus Christ, who is called the great high priest later in that chapter. Because he came everything is different.

It is not by accident that one of the most quoted sayings of Jesus is: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find "rest" for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Who has not read those words and felt the tension inside loosen a bit? You read it, and then you read it again because you know this is what you need. You just know it is right. Praise God that on the first Christmas the real reinforcements arrived.

MAKE IT REAL

Re-read Matthew 11:28-30 and remember times in your life when you were weary and burdened and Jesus gave you rest. Once again let the "streams of living water" flow from within. God is still in charge!

Day 6