Summer’s winding down, but life on college and university campuses is accelerating pretty rapidly these days.  Some of us are enjoying the last few days of summer while getting everything organized for the trek back to campus and others are already settled into the dorm or apartment we’ll call home for the next nine months or so.  All the fall sports teams are back to practice in the lovely 90 degree humidity of a DC summer.  And campuses ministries are in a frenzy getting ready for or participating in welcome week events.  I know life for our Gathering team is pretty full on right now.

If we’re not careful, we can buy into the lie that we’re too busy to rest.  It feels like the last thing we have time for is a day off.  It’s funny – we don’t argue with the idea.  We just plan to put it off a bit until things get a little less hectic.  Of course, we all know that never works – those “less hectic” days seem to be perpetually just out of reach.  So, we don’t rest because we’re just too busy.

God anticipated that scenario in a little conversation He had with a guy named Moses on the side of a mountain called Sinai.  It was the second time the two had gotten together up there but God’s Words were no less penetrating this time.  Listen to what He instructs Moses, “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.” (Exodus 34:21)

It’s the familiar command to rest.  But look at the second half of the verse – even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.  Those were the two busiest times of year in an agrarian society!  God knew that Israel would try to dodge rest at the times they were most busy, the times when they needed it most.  Same thing for us, right?  And God goes out of His way to remind them and us that even in the busiest times of life, we must rest.

So, it doesn’t matter how busy this season is.  The question is the same for all of us – when’s your next time of rest?  And if the answer is “when I have time”, you need to go read the passage again and get something more specific on the calendar!