Entering Elul: The Rest Before The Restoration

This morning I spoke live to our community about a season we have entered — the Hebrew month of Elul — and what it means for rest, repentance, and restoration. I want to walk you through what the Lord impressed on my heart: that before restitution, recovery, and increase can come, God is inviting us into rest. This message pulled together Scripture, Hebraic tradition, and honest, raw testimony. If you were with me live, you know the tone: quiet, reflective, prophetic, instructive. If you weren’t, let this be the invitation to come and sit in that quiet place with me and with the Father.

The Call to Rest: Not a Reward, but a Gateway

I began the message asking God to give us "eyes to see and ears to hear" — but more importantly, "spirits to receive." That is the posture for Elul. Rest is not merely absence of labor; it is a spiritual condition in which God can restore and restitute. He said to those of us who are "heavily burdened, heavily laden" — come, and I will give you rest. That invitation is simple and yet profound: you do not have to fight for this rest. You do not have to create it; you are invited to receive it.

When we sit in this rest, God can bring the restitution and the restoration. He cannot fully bless and empower a heart that keeps idols between itself and Him. One of the central points I pressed: the blessing God brings is "supernatural empowerment that comes from the fullness of the presence of God." If anything stands between you and that presence, the blessing cannot come in fullness.

Elul: A Scriptural and Hebraic Framework

Elul is the month that leads to the fall feasts — Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. In Hebraic tradition Elul is the season of teshuvah, a returning to the Father's heart. Teshuvah is more than remorse: it is an active turning, an abandoning of the things that separate us from God so that He can renew covenant and bring mercy.

I walked through the Exodus account of the golden calf to explain the spiritual rhythm behind Elul. After Moses spent forty days on the mountain, the people quickly turned to an idol. Moses broke the tablets in righteous anger, then interceded. The Jewish timeline that flows from that narrative puts Moses' second ascent beginning on the first of Elul and ending on Yom Kippur — a second descent that culminates in renewed covenant and rest.

"Come to me, all of you who are heavily laden, and I will give you rest."

That verse is the heart of the season. The first period after the golden calf is intercession; the second is a season of divine mercy and repentance that culminates in atonement and rest. That is the pattern God is drawing us into today.

The Yud, the Dot, and the Foundational Work of Elul

One of the Hebraic pictures I shared was the small Hebrew letter yud — just a dot. That dot is the first mark, the starting point, the building block. Everything begins with a dot. Elul is a foundational month: small acts of repentance, small submissions, small changes of posture create the basis for the larger movement God wants to bring into our lives.

Ten is another important motif. The yud is the tenth letter, and ten in Scripture often signifies completion and divine order: ten utterances of creation, ten commandments, ten talents, ten virgins. The suggestion is that the small beginning of a dot can lead to a completed, perfect work when the heart aligns with God.

Gad: Hidden Thoughts, Desires, and the Alignment of Mind and Action

The tribe associated with Elul is Gad. In the message I explained how Gad represents the connection between hidden thoughts and outward actions. The Gadites refused the idea that mind and body were separated; they believed in the union of intention and action. This is crucial for us now. Elul calls us to uncover what is hidden — anxious thoughts, secret idols, and misplaced need — and to turn them into wisdom-informed action.

I shared a personal moment: I had turned a legitimate need into an idol. What I thought I needed — a timely car purchase and the financial provision to make it happen — had become an anxious fixation. When I finally laid it at the Lord's feet and stopped contending, God provided. That moment of rest unlocked restitution. That’s the practical reality Elul invites: lay down what you clutch, and watch God restore.

Psalm 27 and the Daily Disciplines of Elul

Elul has traditions that help prepare the heart: reading Psalm 27 daily and sounding the shofar each morning. Psalm 27 is David’s cry for intimacy: "One thing I ask of the Lord... to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life." This is not mere ritual. It’s the posture of someone who values presence above provision. Presence produces provision in its proper time.

"The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?"

As we practice silence, prayer, and the sounding of the shofar (or its spiritual equivalent in our lives), what happens is an inner awakening: the shofar's outward sound is meant to stoke an inner response of teshuvah — a full return to God.

Practical Steps: How to Enter Elul Well

Here are practical steps I shared to help you enter this rest-centered season with intentionality:

Choose silence. Sit in quiet for a set time each morning. Let God’s silence be the message. He may not speak in a thunderclap; his silence can be the environment in which you hear His gentle voice.
Confess and identify idols. Don’t be offended by the word "idol" — anything that distracts you from God qualifies. Name it, bring it to the Lord, and lay it down.
Adopt Psalm 27 as a daily declaration. Read it aloud; let it shape your longing to dwell in God’s presence more than in the pursuit of provision.
Practice teshuvah. Return in action: restore relationships where needed, ask forgiveness where required, and take practical steps to change behavior patterns that separate you from God.
Expect mercy. Remember Moses’ second tablets: God delights in giving second chances. Come with humility and receive the renewal He offers.
Watch for the yud moments. Small beginnings and small obediences matter. A humble dot can be the start of a larger movement of God in your life.
Why Rest Precedes Restitution

The thread through everything I preached is this: rest is an enabling condition. When you rest in Him and take anxious thoughts to Him — "Search me, O God; know my anxious thoughts" — you remove the obstacles that prevent God’s full presence. Blessing follows the presence. If you want increase that matters, start with relational purity: heart to heart with God.

God told me through this message, "Why are you fighting it?" He offers rest freely. Stop contending. Lay down the anxious fixation, the worry that keeps you from the place where God wants to pour out restitution. Repentance changes identity. When you genuinely return, you cease to live as the person dominated by the past failure, and you become the person defined by God’s mercy and destiny.

Closing Exhortation

We are in a season of mercy. The days of Elul are days when the Creator draws us back to His original design and purpose. He wants us to enter the rest that makes room for restitution. This is not condemnation. It’s invitation. It’s mercy. So take the quiet seriously. Lay your burdens down. Tell Him, "Search me, show me anything within me that is offensive to you," and then repent and receive.

Let the shofar of repentance sound in your heart every morning of this month. Let Psalm 27 be the anthem of your soul. And when God restores, receive it with a heart that has been made ready by rest.

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