Troublesome Topic: Rest With God Even When It’s Hard

Discipline, coupled with the need to plan ahead, is always necessary, but certain times of the year are more challenging than others, requiring even more discipline than normal.

~ Intense work schedules are a testing ground for our priorities. If you have to work 70 hours a week, or seven days a week, or even six days a week all year long, year after year, you have a challenging situation. I encourage you to see this as a test, and find ways to enjoy time with God anyway. Don’t allow a heavy work schedule to be an excuse for not staying current in the most important relationship in your life. As you stay current in your vertical relationships, God will help you have more healthy horizontal relationships as well.

~ Busy times, like Christmas.

If we can enjoy time with God and learn to “be still and know God” during the most challenging times, we should be able to apply that same discipline when life is more “normal.”

Mt 6:33 says, “But seek the kingdom of God first, along with His righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you.“

We should let nothing get between us and our time with God. This is much more easily said than done, but we should be striving toward it.

The discipline required to prepare ahead can help us be more disciplined when faced with any temptation, including the temptation to spoil the Sabbath with things that don’t belong.

(The next section in this topical study is called Staying at Home Produces Closeness. You can go to the first lesson of that section by clicking on this link: Stay at Home.)