Do we see the Sabbath as a gift from God, or as a burden, or just another day?
Today is Friday. Most of us jubilantly celebrate Friday. Many of us start looking forward to Friday the minute our alarm clocks sound on Monday, signaling the beginning of our week. We also love Saturdays, often a day of absolutely no expectations on our time, depending of course, on the season of life we are in.
But, how many of us count the days til Sunday, til the Sabbath? Quite often, that’s a day where we wrestle ourselves and/or our kids, out of bed and drag ourselves to church, often turning into the parking lot on two wheels. It doesn’t take much to talk ourselves out of going to church either. It’s too cold. It’s raining. I don’t have anything to wear. I’m not feeling well. The kids don’t want to go. Does any of this sound familiar?
In Exodus, where we find the Ten Commandments, God said, “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God…” Exodus 20:8-10 NLT
I began to give some thought to ordinary work. What is our ordinary work? Well, if we have a job, that’s ordinary work. I suppose cleaning house and cutting grass is ordinary work. What else would qualify as ordinary work? What about all of the anxieties, fears and stress we carry around? Is that our ordinary work? Is it Holy?
As I contemplated the idea further, I came across some words that Jesus spoke about he Sabbath. He was once again, defending himself to the “know it all,” Pharisees. These guys always thought they had all the answers. You know the type, right? “Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of the people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27 NLT
He was specifically talking about all of the cumbersome requirements that Jewish tradition had come to require. But, I think his words are super relevant to today’s Christians as well.
God created the Sabbath for us. It’s a gift, not a burden of things we have to do, but a gift. It’s a gift of rest and while many of us get that part as we rush off to the golf course or lake or choose to sleep in, let’s not miss the second part, which is keeping it holy and dedicating it to God.
That too, is part of the gift. Here’s why, humanity tends to be self-focused. I know that’s a shocker, but it’s true. We spend our days chasing money to buy stuff that many of us don’t need. We spend our days worrying about the future, or about family members, or about our jobs, or about our diagnosis, or about….. You get the picture. We spend our days focusing on our insecurities and shortcomings. We spend our days carrying anger and grudges. We spend our days focusing on all that is wrong in our lives and the world at large.
The Sabbath is meant for rest from all of those things and emotions that weigh us down. We are to put those down for an entire day as we focus on our Creator and His love for us and His plan for us. His plan doesn’t include all of those burdens. His plan includes words like, “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 Jesus said, “Come to me all who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 12:28
Do those words sound like they come from someone who wants to make our lives harder?
The Sabbath is meant for rest from ourselves. It’s meant for rest from being human as we focus on being Godly. That rest may lead to brand new insight and instruction. That rest may lead to a brand new peace. It could lead to fulfilling a dream that God planted within us long ago.
But, for any of those things to come to pass, we have to embrace the Sabbath, not as a burden, but as a gift.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂