Worthy Brief - 8/29/2025
Friend, a weekly call to return!
Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
As we walk through Elul, we hear the daily shofar reminding us to awaken and return. But God has already built a rhythm of return into every single week -- Shabbat.
Shabbat is more than a day of rest. It is a covenant sign (Exodus 31:16-17), a reminder that the work is not ultimately ours but His. Just as Elul prepares us for the High Holy Days, Shabbat prepares us for eternity. Each week we step aside from labor, lay down our striving, and remember that redemption and provision come from the Lord alone.
In Deuteronomy 5:15, God links Shabbat to the Exodus: "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out... therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day." Shabbat is tied to freedom -- a weekly declaration that the arm of the Lord has broken our chains. Elul amplifies that same truth: the King has come into the field to draw near, to free us from sin, and to invite us back into intimacy.
Elul and Shabbat together form a double call. Elul says: "Return in this season." Shabbat says: "Return every week." Elul looks ahead to the Bride's final preparation; Shabbat is the weekly rehearsal dinner. Both whisper the same message -- the Bridegroom is coming, and His Bride must be ready.
Friend, the King is not only in the field this month -- He is present in the rhythm of every week. Will you make space for Him? Will you stop your labor, silence the noise, and meet Him in the rest He provides? The Bridegroom is calling His Bride to awaken, repent, and prepare -- not only in Elul, but in every Shabbat until the final trumpet sounds. The King is near. Enter His rest, for the Bridegroom is at the door.
Shabbat Shalom -- have a wonderful weekened in the Lord!
Your family in the Lord with much agape love,
George, Baht Rivka, Elianna and Obadiah
(George, Baht Rivka (Dallas, Texas) | Obi - (Baltimore, Maryland( | Elianna (Married living in Missouri)
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