Honor the Sabbath, Part 1
“Honor the Sabbath.”
Leviticus 19:3b (CEV)
Did you know that taking a day off for rest honors God? You and I were never created to work 24/7. In fact, the Sabbath Day was so important to God that He included it in the Big Ten! Among the Ten Commandments He gave to Moses on the mountain, it is the fourth one on the list. God says, “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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11 (NIV)
In Exodus 35:2 (NCV), Moses repeats this command to the nation of Israel. He says, “You are to work for six days, but the seventh day will be a holy day, a Sabbath of rest to honor the LORD….” When you and I take a day off each week to rest, the Bible says we are honoring the Lord! Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Even inviting! Yet, the Sabbath is perhaps the most violated command of them all! Workaholics make an idol of their work. They live by the philosophy, “If it’s going to be, its up to me!” Taking a day off is trusting God to provide while you rest. Learn to rest in Him by trusting Him to work in your behalf. The word “Sabbath” simply means a day of rest. Do you take a day off each week?
Why is it we struggle with this command? With all sincerity, we strive to serve God, yet fail to trust God by taking a day off. Relax! But, how? Build into your schedule what I call Sacred Margin. Recognize that work and other issues are not so much problems to be solved but tensions to be managed. Learn to balance your life with sacred margin that allows you to manage the tensions of life. Margin simply provides space, time, energy, and resources that prevent you from running on empty. Sacred margin provides huge benefits. The next couple of days, we’re going to check out three of those benefits we can experience by keeping the Sabbath.
The first benefit is obvious: Physical restoration
To His own disciples who had just returned from a busy season of ministry, serving, and teaching, with so many people pressing them that they did not even have a chance to eat, Jesus said, “Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Mark 6:31 (NIV). The King James Version puts it like this, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while.” I love the way one old preacher quoted that from the King James Version. He said, “Jesus told His disciples to come apart so that they wouldn’t come apart!” Are you coming apart at the seams? You need sacred margin for physical restoration. Keep the Sabbath. Rest is a gift from God to recharge us physically. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people ...’” Mark 2:27 (NLT)
We all need a day of rest, and God is offering you one guilt-free! It honors God when we keep the Sabbath and trust Him to meet all our needs. If you find yourself physically exhausted, maybe the answer is as simple as getting off the treadmill and taking one day a week to rest, learning to relax in God. When you do, you’ll experience God energizing you for the week ahead. Tomorrow we’ll look at a couple of other benefits when we honor the Sabbath.