Ezekiel 20:12 “I gave them my Sabbath days of rest as a sign between them and me. It was to remind them that I am the Lord, who had set them apart to be holy.”
The Sabbath command, repeated many times in the Old Testament and strategically breached by Jesus Christ in the New, is meant for the good of human beings. Setting apart one day out of seven is not a legal requirement for Christians, but we all need rest. We need a day to freely and guiltlessly step away from daily toils. But even more importantly, we need a day to remind ourselves and give extra attention to thanking our Provider, worshiping our Rescuer, marveling at our Creator.
It is dangerous to ignore this rhythm of life God designed for us. The danger always exists, but with so many of us working from home during COVID-19, it’s even easier to let the demands of work seep into every corner of life. The writer, Pascal Bruckner, recently said of the present time, “There is no longer any Sunday or Monday; each day is a single day that resembles all the others in a perpetual present.” How much we are tempted to press on without regard to days, letting life congeal into a featureless monotony of survival and distraction. This is not how God intended it to be.
In his book, The Sabbath, Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. It is not an interlude but the climax of living.” The climax of living. That is how I am learning to regard this day.
Father, please help me – every week – to anticipate the day of rest. It is a gift from you. Give me the discipline to complete my work in six days so I can joyously set apart the seventh. Let me emerge from that day having spent it praising you, soaking in your Word, and enjoying the company of fellow Christians. Thank you for designing life this way, for our good.
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This week: If you don’t already set apart one day of the week (typically Sunday for most Christians), what has to be true for you to do it this week? What must you change in the next six days to make this possible? What plans must be accelerated or delayed to be ready for Sunday?
Here’s another quote from Abraham Joshua Heschel: “We suffer from a deeply rooted dread of time and stand aghast when compelled to look into its face. Time to us is a sarcasm, a slick treacherous monster with a jaw like a furnace incinerating every moment of our lives.” What can you and your family do this week to regard time differently, to gain mastery over it, to carve out a day that blesses your relationships with fellow human beings and with God?