by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun
THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT READS: "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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" (Exodus 20:8-10). The Jewish understanding of sabbath embraced a special twenty-four hour rest time that was different from every other day. Other days of the week were given over to work, but the sabbath reminded people that they were finite. They could not constantly be on the go. There were limits to their energy. And to honor these limitations, was to honor the infinite God, who himself worked and rested.
Jewish sabbath began in the evening when the family set aside all the to-dos of the work week. As the lamps were lit, everyone settled into the evening calm of Shabbat. Candles, prayers, blessings, food, the empty chair at the table - it all represented delight and refreshment in the presence of God and each other. When bedtime came, the family rested in God's covenant protection. They woke on sabbath morning to a world they didn't make and a friendship with God they didn't earn. Over time, this one intentional day for delight and refreshment turned into a sobering legalistic exercise. Enjoying God and others was replaced by scrupulously keeping sabbath rules. The day God had given as a respite from work became simply another kind of work.
Jesus took specific aim at this misunderstanding of the sabbath. As Lord of the sabbath (see Matthew 12:1-14; Luke 6:1-10), he freely interpreted the sabbath command, claiming that God gave it to people as a restorative and recuperative gift. God did not intend for life to be all effort, so he punctuated each week with twenty-four hours of sabbath rest, during which people could remember what life is about and who it is for.
Sadly, everything about us works against slowing down. Our compulsion to produce and not waste time invades the space God gave for us to rest. Children's athletics, national sporting events, round-the-clock accessibility to work, e-mail and stores also fill up the sabbath day, so we never stop. When you get indignant over how seemingly incompatible sabbath is with the tiring and relentless demands already facing you, consider what your tiredness means. Animals don't think about how tired they are. And they don't have a sabbath they set aside for rest. It's humans who recognize the difference between work and rest. The fact that we make distinctions between being tired and rested is an indication that we need to do both. Made in the image of God, we are like God, who on the seventh day "rested" from all his labor.
Sabbath is God's way of saying, "Stop. Notice your limits. Don't burn out." It is a day he gives us to remember who and what work is for as well as what matters most. Sunday generously hands us hours to look into the eyes of those we love. We have time for loving and being loved. Rhythmically, the sabbath reminds us that we belong to the worldwide family of God. We are citizens of another kingdom - a kingdom not ruled by the clock and the tyranny of the urgent. God's sabbath reality calls us to trust that the Creator can manage all that concerns us in this world as we settle into his rest.
(source: Spiritual Disciplines Handbook)
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Beautiful words! Thanks for sharing. I'm sitting here debating whether or not to check bank account balances, as I try to have rest time with the family. I was going to focus on the Sabbath tomorrow, but if I look at it, will it lend me to rest. If I don't look will I sit here worrying?
ReplyDeleteJody, I love your honest questions! I can't wait to hear what you think God is teaching you through this.
ReplyDeleteI'm struggling not doing little odds and ends around here too. It's funny how much i resist rest.
It is amazing how God will weave the tapestry of our everyday lives to continue to teach us how tolive a holy life. In my weekly Interdenominational Bible study...with women from many diverse worship practices...we are studying the life of Moses through the Pentateuch. The last three weeks have been an indepth study of Leviticus. For the first time of reading this cut and dry book of the Bible, I am enjoying it! It mentions the importance of observing the Sabbath at least 3 times...as had been laid out in the book of Exodus 20:8, 31:14. The last time it is talked about in Leviticus is in chapter 25: The Sabbatical Year. Can you imagine taking a whole year off of work? If the Israelites worked in any form (tilling, planting, reaping, etc..) they would die! Talk about harsh! Now, let's apply it to our lives now...in the 21st century. My understanding of SABBATICAL or SABBATH, based on my indepth reading of God's original plan for His people is this: we are to MAKE time to REST in God's presence. "Rest" in the "sabbath" term means to stop earthly work...toil of our hands and bodies...thought and worry of our earthly world. It does not mean we spend the time to play and socialize. Each one of us was bought with an amazing price of Christ's blood. His (and our) Father demands that we remember and thank Him for the great sacrifice by spending time in relationship with Him...ALONE. Not us alone, but HIM alone. It's an attitude of time and respect to God. Giving Him our FIRSTFRUITS...MAKING time...not the leftovers. We can't expect to have deep personal intimacy with our Lord if we "squeeze" Him into our busy lives. This might mean that we get up earlier one day a week. Or it might mean we turn off all electronic devices and spend that time with our family in devotions. Whatever it looks like for each one of us...it is a HEART thing. All my studies of the Bible and God's character leads me to believe that He is most interested in our HEARTS. The whole purpose of our growing and changing in His will is to live a holy life...consecrated to Him and shaped like His Son, Jesus Christ. Noreen
ReplyDeleteThrough this Season of life, I am finding that our Holy SPirit could be seen everywhere. That just about everything that could be done on this earth, which is with in our reach, we do. Yet, almost everything is visible. The obvious.To see our God, we have to look at the Unseen.2Corinthians. There must be Trust within ourselves to know that He is with us, to guide us into this Holy Life>The vision of eternity. That is what I have been using the meaning of Sabbath for. My Rest has been with God, my time awake has been with God, my work time,with God. Time with my Kids has been with God. Every moment I have been imagining what it was that He had to go through, seeing the people that He loves, working with his intent with in me. Since, we have been in Church continuously and searching for what He wants for me, my visions have changed. I don't have days where we are just free to do nothing but rest. I do imagine that Rest is in my mist, and God is keeping my Soul.
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