Honor the Sabbath

Warning, this is not going to be a comprehensive teaching on all things Sabbath.

The Bible says a whole lot about this subject and people have written literal books about it. So I definitely do not plan to try to capture all of that here. I do plan to share some of my experience and reflections on what the Lord has taught me in it.

Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord, your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates." - Exodus 20:8-10

Pretty straight-forward right? Don't work. Don't let anyone in your household work. You would think this would be an easy one for us to follow, since we're all so busy and tired all of the time.

And yet, we just get so worried that things won't get done. There's just not enough time in six days. Or we take pride in being someone who never takes a break, but just keeps on grinding.

God gave this command for a reason. In the historical context, part of that reason was to remind a whole nation of people that had been enslaved for generations that they are not slaves anymore. They are free and they can rest.

I believe our God over all time and space probably had us in mind too. He knew we would become people prone to burnout and stretching ourselves too thin, and we would need some time to recover.

But there's another part of this command I don't want us to miss: "keep it holy." This is not meant to be just a day to kick your feet up watch TV and take a nap. It's a holy day.

A day to be respected. A day to be reverent. A day to be awed again by God.

Not to say that watching TV and napping can't be part of it. But in the midst of it, we have to remember that this is a sabbath to God. We've got to remember Him and find that soul rest only He can give us.

I have felt specifically convicted recently for not practicing a regular Sabbath, so my husband and I sat down and planned out how we were going to create some space and prioritize this command from God.

(Yes, it is a command - not a suggestion)

Now, it's been a whopping two weeks so far, but hey - it's a start! I could share a whole lot that we've learned and reflected already, but for time's sake, I'll focus on this one for now...

Sabbath is a gift - don't get too legalistic with it.

This is where the Pharisees got it wrong. They took the command not to work so literally, they made it a burden and a hassle to do anything on the Sabbath. They even rebuked Jesus for healing people on the Sabbath!

The danger in becoming too legalistic is that we miss the glory of God, because we're too busy focusing on "doing it right." The point is not to be right, but to rest and honor God.

"And Jesus said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.'" - Mark 2:27

Remember, this was originally a reminder to a nation of people that were slaves. This is not a law to make them slaves again, but to remind them they are now free!

We have applied this to our own Sabbath, by intentionally not setting crazy strict boundaries on what counts as work. For example, we'll prepare meals in advance so we don't have to worry about cooking, but inevitably, we will have dirty dishes after we eat. If we need to wash a few dishes, or put away a couple of things, it's okay.

Our main goal is not to make it a day focused on work, so we're not going to deep clean the entire house. Instead, it's a day focused on seeking the Lord.

Again, there's SO much more to talk about with the Sabbath, but I'll leave you to mull over that for today. I hope you seek the Lord this week and receive this gift He's made for you.