LESSON 19:
Tension vs. Trust
1: As we have mentioned already, man is a four-dimensional being. Only when these dimensions are in good balance can man attain life's great and worthwhile goals. One of the most interesting studies is the close relation between the mind and the body. We know now that these are really inseparable. Every physical illness affects the emotions and the mental attitudes of an individual. On the other hand, more than two thirds of the patients in the doctor's office are there for illness brought on or aggravated by mental stress.
2: Of course, we are all familiar with simple reactions between the body and the mind. For example, embarrassment will make one's face to turn red. Anger will make your mouth dry. Nervousness may make your hands sweat. These are all simple, visible reactions. Perhaps, you did not know that emotional and mental stress cause most ulcers, asthma, high blood pressure, strokes, intestinal diseases, and even arthritis, to name only a few.
3: You see, the emotional center of the brain has nerve fibers which go out to every organ of the body. Because of our complicated nerve connections, it is understandable how anything that disturbs the emotional center can send out impulses which can cause anything from a headache to itchy feet! For example, a child who gets sick the first day he goes to school. Sometimes a child or adult is just too tired to do some job he really dislikes, but suddenly has plenty of energy when turning to something interesting.
4: Let us take a look at what actually happens in the body when our emotions are stirred. There are three main effects that you can easily remember:
5: (1) The amount of blood flowing to an organ is changed. As already mentioned, embarrassment can cause the blood vessels to open and the face becomes red.
(2) On the other hand, fear can drive the blood away from the face and send it deep into the body.
(3) Anxiety or hate can cause the blood vessels of the brain to enlarge, increasing the blood to the skull so much that headaches or vomiting can occur.
(4) Emotions can affect the secretions of certain glands. Perhaps you have had experience of being called upon to speak before a group. When you got up your mouth was so dry that you could hardly talk.
6: Our emotions change the tension of the muscles. We all have experienced how our muscles tighten up when we become angry or frightened.
7: Actually, our emotions should protect us. When we see, hear, or feel something that can harm us, the emotion of fear or alarm creates an instant chain reaction in the body that prepares us to meet the emergency and enables us to do things we could not do normally! We can fight, run, or do whatever is best to do under the circumstances because adrenalin makes extra energy available instantly. Our heart beats faster sending more energy to the body cells. Breathing is deeper and faster, sending more oxygen to the body. Our pupils get larger so that we can see better. The mind is more active.
8: But your emotions can also hurt you. If you let your mind be occupied with thoughts of guilt, anger, or worry, or if you habitually experience unnatural excitement, your body goes through the same alarm reaction as if you were in the actual situation! The frequent production of these reactions over weeks and months results in harmful effects. That which was intended by God to be a protection to you can turn out to be a means of self destruction.
9: Now, we all have emotions, love, hate, fear, jealousy, happiness etc., are all emotions. There is nothing wrong with having emotions, and we would be mere machines without them! We would miss out on the great pleasures of life, if it were not for our emotions. What we need to learn is how to handle them. If we learn to control circumstances instead of letting them control us, we will find our minds at peace instead of being in a state of tension.
10: One writer states that a troubled person is his own most feared enemy. Friends, there is nothing more true than this fact. There can be no rest in the mind when such feelings as grief, anxiety, distrust, guilt, jealousy, hatred, resentment, envy, selfishness, or insecurity control us. It is not only the mind that suffers, but the body as well.
11: Too many people today find themselves imprisoned in invisible walls. The invisible walls of the mind can be more terrible than walls of the strongest stone. They cramp the mind and destroy this wonderful body God has made. They smother the love, joy and peace and rest of mind, and body that God intended for us to continually enjoy.
12: Physical rest is imperative if one is to be healthy and strong. But mental rest is just as imperative. In order for you to possess the true mental rest that it is your right and privilege to have, you must learn to recognize the importance of the spiritual dimension of man.
13: Jesus said, "Come unto me .. and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28:10. God's answer to physical and mental tension is found in the rest that Christ offers you tonight. Yes, God is concerned about our rest. We have already studied in our previous lesson where God says, "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: In it thou shalt not do any work; thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant nor thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." Exodus 20:8:10.
14: God wants that all should rest one day in a week, and that day God has specified. It is the Seventh day or Saturday. And why should it be only Saturday and not any other day? Let us read. "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the Seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Exodus 20:11.
15: The first thing we are to remember is, God rested on this day. Secondly, God blessed this day; and thirdly, God has hallowed it or made it Holy. The Sabbath day was made on the seventh day after the Lord finished creating the world in six days; The Sabbath was set aside as a memorial of God's creation. It shows us that it is God who created this world and all that are in the world. It makes us to understand that we are beings created by God.
16: The Sabbath is one of the oldest institutions coming down from Eden. It was intended to be forever. As long as there is God's creation, His sign, too, will be there. By keeping the Sabbath, we acknowledge God as the Creator of everything. If the Sabbath had been kept by all, there would be no atheists today. We may well ask, "When does the Sabbath begin and end?" Leviticus 23:32 says, "from even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath." It begins at evening and closes the next evening.
17: Our next question is when is the evening? Let us read from the Bible:"At even, at the going down of the sun." Deuteronomy 16:6. So, the evening is sunset. That is to say, when on Friday, the sun sets, the Sabbath begins and when on Saturday the sun sets, the Sabbath closes. A complete day of 24 hours. First the dark part and then the daylight part.
18: What is the day before the Sabbath called? The Bible says, "And now when the even was come (that is when the sun had set) because it was the preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath." Mark 15:42. So, Friday is called the Preparation Day in which to get ready for the Sabbath. Before the Sabbath comes, all our secular work should be completed. Such work would include such things as chopping fire wood, washing clothes, cleaning the house, taking baths, marketing, hair cutting, polishing shoes, reading newspapers, listening to radios, traveling, playing etc. No work is proper on the Sabbath that can be done the day before. Even work that seems so very important such as planting the crops at the right time, or harvesting at the right time, must not interfere with Sabbath keeping.
19: Whenever God says anything it is only for our good. He knows that rest is important for our physical as well as spiritual life. Our safety is in obeying Him. There is a great blessing in keeping the Sabbath holy. Sabbath keeping reminds us of our heavenly Father every day. It tells us that we are under His continual care.
20: What is the name of the day after the Sabbath? Let us read from the book of Mark::"And when the Sabbath was past . . And very early in the morning the first day of the week." Mark 16:1,2. This was the day Jesus was resurrected and the world calls this day:Sunday. If Sunday is the first day, then Monday would be the second day and so on. This way we can easily know Saturday to be the Seventh-day. This is the only day God wants us to keep holy, not any other day.
21: There are so many things that we can do on the Sabbath day. Let us see what Christ did on the Sabbath day. "And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." One of the things we do on the Sabbath day is to go to church for worship.
22: In Matthew 12:12 Jesus Himself says, "Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." Visiting the sick and caring for them, all are good works that we can do on the Sabbath days. We can take our family out in nature and meditate upon God's beautiful creation. We can spend time studying the Word of God.
23: Sabbath is also a sign or seal of sanctification, "Moreover also I gave them my Sabbath, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify them." "And hallow my Sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Ezekiel 20:12,20.
24: By keeping the Lord's Sabbath, we become His subjects and He becomes our God. How can we expect to be in His kingdom and yet not have the sign to show we are His subjects? It cannot be. We want to go to heaven. Heaven is God's dwelling place. We can be there only as we acknowledge Him now as our Lord and Master. And the only way we can do this is to keep His day Holy which is the Seventh day or Saturday.
25: He is coming soon. We have to make the necessary adjustments in our experience. It might be hard for those of us who have never kept this day holy before; but with His help we can do it. He says, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." When we are yoked with Jesus, burdens will no longer be burdens. Friends, pray about it and God will strengthen you. He wants you to be saved but He cannot force you. You have to choose to be saved. Accept Him, follow Him, obey Him, and He will give you rest.
Here is additional information about the Bible Sabbath:
At the Creation: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the Seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the Seventh day from all His work which He had made.
"And God blessed the Seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.":Genesis 2:1:3.
The Fourth Commandment: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work.
"But the Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates;
"For
in six days the Lord heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,
and rested the Seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day,
and hallowed it." Exodus 20: 8:11.
