On Sabbath

It’s Monday, and if I can be honest for a moment, it has been a messy Monday. I’ve been unfocused for most of the morning, drifting aimlessly from one project to the next, completely unable to dive back in after I’ve answered a call. Lunch was a hurried affair in which I picked up Chinese food carryout and ate at my desk while attempting, again, to finish a project. I am tired, out of sorts, unfocused, and lacking in hope. My life is out of balance, and right now, I feel the effects of that.

 

In Exodus 20:8-11 we see God’s intention for balance in our lives with the command of a Sabbath. It 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 male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 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.”

Not only was it a balance issue, but it was a trust issue. Those who did not work in ancient times did not eat. So they had to prepare in advance for this time of rest by working hard on the other six days and by preparing food to eat on that day.

If you recall Isaiah 58 (seriously, a theme for me lately), the Lord calls out the Israelites for fasting and expecting the Lord to show up, but not keeping his commandments, though He does not immediately specify what those commands are. But at the end of the passage, He says this,

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

and from doing as you please on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight

and the LORD’s holy day honorable,

and if you honor it by not going your own way

and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,

and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land

and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Among the commandments the people are breaking is God’s command for a Sabbath. The people were expecting God to show up, but not maintaining a relationship with Him by trusting in Him to provide for them.

It sounds uncomfortably familiar to me. I haven’t had a full day off with no work, school, or church commitment in a month. Before you let me off the hook you should know that I have been choosing to do homework on Saturdays. That would be the problem. I have taken control of my schedule, in essence saying to the Lord, “I’ve got this. It doesn’t matter that YOU are the One who created time. I can take care of all the details of my schedule, all the little tasks, on my own. So leave me alone.”

 

Not only has it created a sense of imbalance in my life, but it’s come between me and the Lord, and I am starting to feel the distance. Things that haven’t tempted me in awhile are all coming up all over the place. I’m selfish and all too easily overwhelmed. Check engine lights are going off all over the place indicating that something is wrong in my life.

I know how to get this right- repentance. But the prayer needs to be accompanied by a change in behavior. I need Him to enable me to trust Him with my time. And then I need to honoring the Lord with a day of rest.