Searching for Sabbath
I used to think that I didn’t know anyone who wasn’t busy. Everybody had jobs and tasks and kids and extracurricular activities. I didn’t know of anyone who sat around and did nothing all day. Then I picked up on something that not only was everyone doing, but I was as well. I couldn’t help but notice that I could have conversations with people about various Netflix shows we were watching around the same time or the sports teams we had a shared interest in or what we had both seen about a mutual friend on social media.
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with any of these things, a realization hit me: although they made me “busy,” they weren’t necessary. If I quit all of them, I’d have a lot more time on my hands, but I knew that I wasn’t going to quit them. Most of those things are how I stay connected to certain communities that I enjoy connecting with.
I realized something that I didn’t like about myself. I was using the word “busy” to justify my priorities. The word “busy” had become my excuse and, at times, “busy” had become my god.
It wasn’t that I didn’t love God or my church or my ministry. I just didn’t know how I was supposed to make time for God when I had ballgames to coach, ministry meetings to lead, sermons to write, people to connect with, and, simply put, so many things to do.
I taught a class on slowing down because, deep down, I think I knew that I needed this for my own soul’s well being. While a number of really great ideas jumped out at me, the concept of sabbath continues to be a recurring invitation that I feel from the Spirit to implement into my life.
Upon reading and studying more about sabbath, I discover that it’s more than an invitation. Sabbath is some of the healthiest food that I can eat. Sabbath is woven into the inner fabric of my innermost longings. Sabbath demands me, even though it should be the other way around. I was told growing up that we no longer observe the sabbath because Jesus told the Pharisees as much (Matthew 12:1-8). That interpretation I was taught about that passage is no longer one I agree with. When you understand what Jesus was communicating to the Pharisees, you see that He wasn’t getting rid of sabbath. He was returning it back to its original intention and design: rest. Most simply put, the Pharisees were WORKING HARD to NOT work. Jesus’s comments on the sabbath were His way of trying to open their eyes to that reality. We took His words and went to the extreme the other way with it.
Here are a few things I have learned so far about sabbath from people who are both way smarter than me and way better at “sabbathing” than me. (I know it’s not a word, but it should be.)
Two thoughts on sabbath regarding the Genesis 1 creation story: 1. The omnipotent God who never tires has created a seventh day purely for rest. God chooses rest despite not needing it. We desperately need it and choose not to take it. 2. The idea that God created rest on the seventh day is astounding. While that might sound a bit weird—how can you create doing nothing?—this idea invites us not to “create” the time and space needed for sabbath, but to simply acknowledge that it’s already there and we are invited to participate in it.
God commands the Israelites to “remember the sabbath and keep it holy” in Exodus 20 as the fourth of the Ten Commandments. Notice that this commandment stands between those pertaining to Israel’s relationship with God (commandments 1-3) and those pertaining to Israel’s relationships with one another (commandments 5-10). Could sabbath be what allows us to balance healthy relationships with both God and man?
If God were to put the Ten Commandments in sequential order based on importance, it might make sense that the way we treat one another can often be dependent upon how much rest we have. If I’m exhausted, I might not necessarily be prone to murder, but I might become more disrespectful toward my parents, not care about the truth, or desire what everyone around me has instead of what God has blessed me with. None of us are the best versions of ourselves when we are exhausted.
In Deuteronomy, the fourth commandment is slightly different in that the Israelites are commanded to “observe” the sabbath. While this might seem to make little or no difference, it’s important to note that after this command, God says to His people, “Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with His strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the sabbath.” Why might God say this here? Perhaps it is to remind them that they once lived in a world where sabbath wasn’t an option…. AND THEY HATED THAT WORLD. It is here that John Mark Comer, in his book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, offers the idea of observing the sabbath as resistance. Observing the sabbath is to take a stand against the world that says you must always be working and doing (pp. 163-170). You must always be accomplishing more and never enjoying what already is. The Egypt we read about in the book of Exodus still exists today, it’s just a lot more covert.
A study was done on productivity in the workplace based on the number of hours worked during the week. That study revealed that, while technically more work was completed by those who worked a longer number of hours, the productivity and efficiency levels of those who worked beyond a certain number of hours in the week absolutely plummeted.[1] The number: 50. Why might that number be relevant? Working eight hours a day for six days would be forty eight hours in a week. Could our own bodies be telling us something that our culture is lying to us about?
Hebrews 4 is a powerful chapter on rest. I could (and probably at some point will) write an entire post on this chapter that focuses on sabbath and rest. I’ll simply focus on a few verses that speak on the down sides of NOT taking this rest that God has given us:
“God’s promise of entering His rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it” (Hebrews 4:1).
“For only those who believe can enter His rest” (Hebrews 4:3).
“So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God” (Hebrews 4:6).
“So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall” (Hebrews 4:11).
We love to read the verses at the end of this chapter about how the Word of God is more powerful than any double edged sword, but perhaps the author writes about entering into rest before those verses to help us understand this simple message: in order to live the life God is calling you to and in order to hear His voice and understand His word, you MUST have rest.
There’s plenty more that I could share about sabbath, and I’m still in the learning process myself. From my limited experience in trying to implement this into my rhythm of life, I will say that sabbath will look different for each person. While it can (and should!) be observed in community, what that looks like will slightly vary by individual. This also probably needs to be done gradually. Unfortunately, I developed a pace of life that did not allow for me to stop for a whole 24-hour day, but I am getting there. I started with just a couple of hours on one of my days off and I have been intentional about slowing down in these spaces.
My results so far: I’m feeling more joyful about things that I used to care nothing about. I have felt more present to God and others when I used to mainly do that via a smart device. The amount of stress and anxiety I feel has decreased. I’m not up to a full sabbath yet, but I look forward to the day that it becomes a fully sacred part of my life.
Perhaps you have resonated with this. Maybe you love the idea of sabbath, but you just don’t see how you can implement that into your life right now though?
If so, I’ll leave you with this: when God commands the Israelites (and us) to keep the sabbath “holy,” we know that this word means “set apart.” We live in a world that says to rest only if you finish your work in time. We feel forced to center our rest around our work. God is telling us to center our work around our rest, to put the sabbath first and work once that rest is fully completed.
Perhaps if we were to start doing this, then life just might slow down. Maybe hurry will stop owning our souls and therefore our lives. Maybe “busy” will stop being our response to the state of our lives. Maybe then we will actually be able to believe and tell the lived story of Jesus’s words come to life when he says:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
