"A Season of Rest?"

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timmybaugh

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It seems like these days, everywhere I turn I am hearing my protestant friends, and protestant music radio pastors and artists talking about being called to “a season of rest”.

Some seem to take it as like, literally stopping any effort to move on their own until they hear loudly and clearly the voice of God telling them what to do, in some cases for months or years on end. This seems strange to me, and I cannot find any biblical justification for it whatsoever. Even when I click through and read the manifold articles written by protestant bloggers, pastors, “theologians”, and the like, none of them offer any Biblical backing for this idea that seems to have come about from thin air.

It seems like they are using a different term for what we know as discernment, but executing it in a very strange way. Do any of you who are more familiar with this particular breed any insight here?
 
timmybaugh said:
one of them offer any Biblical backing for this idea that seems to have come about from thin air.
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‘and on the 7th day He rested, and said it was good’

Sometimes, we need more than a Sunday to catch our breath and hear the voice of God
 
I didn’t think I had to specify that i had already considered the Sabbath rest, my apologies.

There are a great many references to “rest” in Scripture, particularly in the psalms and the Pentateuch, I am hoping for something a little more specific to explain why this specific doctrine has seemingly caught on like wildfire.

Thank you for your reply.
 
It seems to be people feeling to be at a time in their lives when they need to “Wait on the Lord” (Psalms 27:14) and, as you said, discern what God is wanting them to do. While this is happening, they seem to be holding on to the promises in Scripture that God will give them rest:

Jeremiah 6: 16, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’”

Mathew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

PS Or it could be a reference to people in ministry taking time off so as not to get burned out. In this case, it would be an example of Christianese.
 
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I appreciate that. I had been through both of those pretty thoroughly and found them uplifting on their own legs, but wanting in giving validity to this new idea that i had never heard of in my life 2 years ago, but that i can now purchase fifteen books, pamphlets, and CD’s about.

thank you very much for your reply.
 
timmybaugh said:
I appreciate that. I had been through both of those pretty thoroughly and found them uplifting on their own legs, but wanting in giving validity to this new idea that i had never heard of in my life 2 years ago, but that i can now purchase fifteen books, pamphlets, and CD’s about.
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I think it just comes from the way some Christians tend to speak about “seasons” as metaphors for changes in our lives, specifically as they relate to our relationship with God. I’ve heard people say that they feel God is bringing them into a new “season” (whatever that might be), so its just the way that some Christians tend to speak about these things.
 
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There is no biblical nor warrant for protestantism at all. So, we see all manner of man-made comforts creeping in. A rather egregious example would be (pastor?) Kenneth Copeland’s need to travel so as to preach the Gospel (as he sees it):
Kenneth Copeland Ministries has taken advantage of a Federal Aviation Administration program that keeps flights private from tracking websites, and the ministry owns five such aircraft whose flights are kept private, including the Cessna 750 Citation X note above and a North American T-28 Trojan.[20] United States Senator Chuck Grassley has questioned some of the flights taken by these aircraft, including layovers in Maui, Fiji, and Honolulu.[20] The ministries say that the stopovers were for preaching or for allowing pilot rest.
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Preach it, brother!

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For spiritual warfare???
 
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I too have used the term season to describe a period in my life, but more to just identify wehre something was one way for a while, changed and was that way for a while, and then changed and was a different way for a while.

i guess whats bugging me is the typically condescending way that they speak about it, as if when i stand at the fork in the ancient paths and ask for the right direction, yet I continue Actively seeking God’s will and feeding my family and hustling, that I am being “impatient” or “not trusting the Lord”.

the authority they seem to claim around the whole thing is nauseating, and i want to know if there is any justification for their condescension before I dismiss it as my “season” to ignore them.
 
timmybaugh said:
I too have used the term season to describe a period in my life, but more to just identify wehre something was one way for a while, changed and was that way for a while, and then changed and was a different way for a while.

i guess whats bugging me is the typically condescending way that they speak about it, as if when i stand at the fork in the ancient paths and ask for the right direction, yet I continue Actively seeking God’s will and feeding my family and hustling, that I am being “impatient” or “not trusting the Lord”.

the authority they seem to claim around the whole thing is nauseating, and i want to know if there is any justification for their condescension before I dismiss it as my “season” to ignore them.
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It’s probably a pendulum swing against the popular (a few years back) “prosperity gospel”.

People were sold the message that God wants you not just to be happy in the afterlife but in this one, and that happiness would come at least in part in the form of material success.

Of course people noticed that they weren’t getting any of the success (or indeed the worldly happiness) that they were promised - apart from a few wealthy pastors at least.

So the idea of ‘waiting on God’ is probably an attempt to explain away the notable failure of the prosperity gospel to deliver on its promise. ‘You’ll have everything yoy wanted, dear, but not just yet - in God’s time.’
 
Lily!!!
That is truly insightful. Thank you for that perspective.
 
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