The Gift of Sabbath Rest
Fall is upon us and with it comes the routines of school, sports activities, the holiday rush and many other things that keep us busy and take our focus off the Lord. So, I thought it fitting to take a moment and consider the gift of Sabbath rest. Our God is one that, in contrast to many other gods, does not make a long list of things we have to do to earn our salvation. In many ways He does the opposite and encourages us to rest in His grace. How kind and generous He is to actually command us to cease our striving and simply rest in Him. I fear that like so many gifts we are given, we take it for granted or fail to see the importance of it and in many ways ignore this 4th commandment. In fact, the keeping of the Sabbath is mentioned in the Old Testament more than any other commandment. I wonder what place this 4th commandment takes in most of our lives? Do we view this commandment as important as only having One God, or not making idols for ourselves, or do we simply skim over it, thinking it was a cultural command for the Israelites in ancient times, irrelevant to us today?
Before we open a lengthy scholarly dialog on the law being fulfilled by Christ, lets all acknowledge that we all take on too much and wish we had more time to simply rest, relax and allow God to restore our soul. We could also look at hundreds of secular studies that show good sleep, work life balance and lower stress lead to better health and mental well-being. So why do we in large and small ways fill our Sabbath (Sunday or otherwise) with just one more little project, just one more thing that we need to get done, just one more activity to be involved in. Sometimes doing nothing is hard, but we should be grateful that that this is what we are called to do.
After 6 days of work, creating the world we now live in, God rested. He took the time to look over all He had made and just revel in it. After the Israelites had been delivered from the Egyptians and centuries of slavery, continuous hard labor for years without end, God gave them the command to rest and remember all that He had done for them. The Sabbath is a call to rest and remember. Taking the time to remember takes our focus off ourselves and put it back on Him. It reminds us of all that God has done for us, how He has carried us thus far. And we can trust that whatever happens when we come off that rest and enter back into the daily grind, God’s got our back and He will be our strength for whatever lies ahead.
So, this Sunday, take some time to ponder and remember all that the Lord has done for you. Take a siesta, rest your body, take a walk around the block, enjoy the creation He made for us. Sit on the porch until you run out of lemonade. Drink another cup of tea. Take a break and enjoy the Lord’s rest.
—Kristen Robbins