Shabbat Shalom!
This first post about the Sabbath is for my friend Mikey in Boston. Remember I said that I would post something for the Sabbath? Here goes!
Foreword
A House of Prayer for ALL People
For mine house shall be called
a house of prayer for all people,
for every one
that takes hold of my covenant.[1]
My children taught me to get by on only fitful periods of shuteye. Running our own business and moving house too often helped fast-track the crumbling of a perfectly healthy body for no good reason at all.
No holidays, no weekends, no time to rest, no time to repair or replenish.
When even time set aside for fun was scheduled as yet another chore to be done, I realised that conflicting priorities and values were powerfully driving a rudderless ship.
Poor time management skills, workaholism, misguided principles and loyalties, Superwoman Syndrome, whatever you want to call it, till I read the Bible front to back and back to front, I didn’t know what the word rest meant.
Rest to me meant the state your body falls into when your eyes close from sheer exhaustion and you can’t stay awake any longer, no matter how hard you try. Temporary release from that torturous state is what I would have defined as rest.
God said,
The Seventh Day is the Sabbath
Six days shall you labour,
and do all your work:
But the seventh day is the Sabbath
of the LORD your God:
in it you shall not do any work ..[2]
Wow, someone telling me to take a whole day a week off? Did I read that correctly? Now that’s an interesting concept.
There are plenty of people who take a whole weekend off each week but few of us actually rest on those days.
As anyone who runs their own business knows, business hours may be nine to five but the bulk of the work gets done outside these hours.
My children literally begged me to take some time off, saying, ‘Mummy we miss you, we never see you anymore.’
Jesus said,
I Will Give You Rest
Come unto me,
all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.[3]
Jesus said, “Come,” and I came running, tumbling and fumbling.
No More Tears
The Lord GOD will wipe away
tears from off all faces ..[4]
How hard were those first few Sabbaths? I cried a lot. It’s OK to grieve about what could have been. It’s OK to catch up too. Fifty-two Sabbaths each year for thirty years equals nearly four and a half years of rest I never allowed myself.
In addition to this there are all kinds of different Sabbaths throughout the year as well.
God tells us to rest on the Sabbath.
Keep the Seventh Day Holy
I am the LORD your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery…
Remember the Sabbath day,
to keep it holy…
for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that in them is,
and rested the seventh day:
wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day,
and made it holy.[5]
And once more
Commanded You to Keep the Sabbath
Remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt,
and that the LORD your God brought you out from there through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm:
therefore the LORD your God commanded you
to keep the Sabbath day.[6]
GOD SAVED His people from slavery. Whereas slaves they had to work day and night, as soon as God delivered them, He told His people to have their day of rest and reminded us to keep this day holy.
God tells us that He Himself rested after six days of work and that makes the Sabbath pretty special.
My Sabbaths are now holy to me, and a delight for sure. To just hang out for a whole day each week, resting and recuperating, to study God’s Holy Word and share with anyone interested is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.
To actively cease work, and know that it’s OK because God is in charge and taking care of business, is the perfect remedy for a burnt-out body needing regenerating.
If God Himself rested after six days of work as an example for us to follow, who am I to argue with that?
Yes, for sure at one time I was a slave to the business, my husband and my children. However, after reading God’s Word I understand the meaning of no rest for the wicked.
No Peace for the Wicked
But the wicked are like the troubled sea,
when it cannot rest,
whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
There is no peace,
says my God,
for the wicked.[7]
Before I grabbed hold of Jesus’ invite, I had well and truly given up. How could anyone work so desperately hard only to discover that all her efforts had been merely building castles in the air?
We Will Serve The Lord
Except the LORD build the house,
they labour in vain that build it:
but as for me and my house,
we will serve the LORD.[8]
Today my castles are still floating around. I believe God’s Word and as such I know that it is merely a matter of time for the foundation to be laid underneath my dream castles. I’ve been feeling the earth move already.
Be of Good Courage
I had fainted,
unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait on the LORD:
be of good courage,
and he shall strengthen thine heart:
wait, I say, on the LORD.[9]
The above text has been copied and pasted from ‘The Sabbath A Delight; I will give you rest’ by Mimi Emmanuel, a Bible student (not a Seventh Day Adventist).
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[1] Isaiah 56
[2] Exodus 20:8-10
[3] Matthew 11:28-30
[4] Isaiah 25:8, Revelation 7:17, 21:4
[5] Exodus 20:2-11
[6] Deuteronomy 5:15
[7] Isaiah 57:20-21
[8] Psalm 127:1, Joshua 24:14-16
[9] Psalm 27:13-14
Mimi Emmanuel 