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[chensreadtruth]

Hebrews 4

Hi Camille! We should really put up the cute picture with our matching maroon pants :)

Anyways, it’s really fitting that I read through the beginning of Hebrews 4 today, right before Valentine’s Day. This section actually starts off discussing the Sabbath and what it means to focus on a Sabbath Rest. I find it so interesting that the author of Hebrews ties together events from multiple parts of the Bible like so:

3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

“As I swore in my wrath,

‘They shall not enter my rest,’ ”

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said,

“They shall not enter my rest.”

I’m not sure what the reference to David is about, but I believe we see Joshua leading the Israelites into the promised land, and of course, the reference to Genesis on the 7th day ... I wondering if Hebrews really was written.. for the Hebrews, and that’s why these references to Jewish history abound.

Personally, I realized that I had fallen into a lot of “religious habits,” especially last year when I was still in a relationship. I felt obligated to go to church and participate in a bunch of activities without the real maturity to understand why I kept trying to do them. I guess it’s pretty easy to do so when everything looks like a checklist. In that way, we do resemble the Israelites in our society today - we have certain routines and regulations that get in the way of appreciating and understanding God’s character.

In the context of Valentine’s Day, I noticed the devotional’s theme of finding self-worth in who God creates us to be. instead of in our own accomplishments and success in “following rules.” I think that’s what true Sabbath is about - because there’s always work to be done if you look for it. The topic of work also randomly reminded me of Ecclesiastes. I was talking about a friend who was struggling with feelings of being worthless because he was afraid he wouldn’t get into med school. A good prayer request?

I’ll contribute more later in a different post. pretty tired at the moment but hopefully these thoughts make sense!

[chensreadtruth]

Hebrews 3

About listening to God and finding our rest in the Holy Spirit

Ooh I really like this heading:

A Rest for the People of God

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

b“Today, if you hear his voice,

…

“Let’s keep listening —really listening— to God the Father, and really seeing the work He is doing in us and around us. His Word promises that He is always working, that His Spirit is working on our behalf, and that we need to abide in Him.

If we abide in Him, we will find rest.”

This reminded me a lot of a devo I read earlier this year from John 15, the one about Jesus as the true vine. He commands the disciples ,“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” The author points out that “Jesus is not commanding His disciples to bear fruit. The command is to remain.... He comes to redeem the dead branches that we are and give us abundant life! Remaining in Him—resting, dwelling, abiding in Him—is the only source of our strength, our goodness, our fruit.” I think for me it’s also toooo easy for my focus to become distracted onto the very small, trivial worries of my life. I try to do too much (checking in on people’s lives, remembering to read the Bible, going to small group, catching up with homework—yesterday on the phone, my mom was like…you are doing schoolwork right?...—etc), and forget that all Jesus asks of us to remain in his love. ---side note, this kind of reminds of one of the women of God that we talked about in the Monday small group this week. Jessica’s favorite women of the Bible were Mary and Martha. Martha seems bitter and is distracted by making herself busy and doing work, but Jesus just calls her by name, telling her that Mary has chosen “what is better” – sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening. All of these remind that Jesus is our ultimate source of rest.

It’s interesting how the Holy Spirit from this chapter was always calling out for the Israelites to hear God’s voice, for 40 years in the wilderness. I’m wondering how do we actually get a soft heart for the Holy Spirit? Or can you prevent your heart from being hardened so easily? O: Secondly, I feel like I’ve never really heard God speaking to me super clearly, or like an actual human-like voice that I know is Him. I wonder what it’s like!