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Scripture
Genesis 2:2-3
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Exodus 20:8-11
The Ten Commandments
“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."
Devotional
It’s undeniable that we live in a work culture world. Our society celebrates those who burn out from overworking and puts down those who set boundaries. I’ve been on both sides of this token.
I often explain in these devotionals the differences in my life before and after my car accident. And while this parallel may seem overused I can’t stop using it because that moment changed everything for me.
Before my accident, I victimized myself to the work culture. I held myself to a higher standard than anyone else did, and when I failed, I couldn’t forgive myself. Instead of practicing self-grace, I would tell myself to try harder, work harder, and just do better. For a long time, that concept worked for me. It fueled me to work multiple jobs, join a sorority, and take more credits than a full-time schedule, my freshman year of college.
Every now and then, my system would break. I would hit rock bottom and over a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, would allow myself to feel the weight of the expectations I had set for myself. I would pray to God to help me find rest but when the next morning came, I would carry on as though it had never happened. For years, I relied on my innate ability to just “try harder” and I believed that I had to work harder, be smarter, and succeed more, in order to be accepted.
After my accident, I started to realize the harm that my prior beliefs were capable of causing. With brain neurons misfiring and symptoms flooding my body, I couldn’t just try harder, and Lord knows I tried. For a year, I felt like I was going crazy as I continued to just try harder. Instead of accepting my new limits, I convinced myself that I needed to work harder if I wanted to find “normal” again. I learned the hard way that there was nothing I could do to make the situation better.
I went from being someone who thought we could fix our circumstances through our own efforts, to feeling the poison of others feeding me the same lie. Tragedy had struck and with my own body rebelling against me, my system started to fall apart.
Time and time again, I was brought to my knees in tears when someone would remark: “you just need to try harder” because, for the first time in my life, I couldn’t. In fact, trying my absolute hardest often looked like failure.
It wasn’t until I agreed to leave my job, in an attempt to find healing, that I realized how much of my self-worth had been placed in my ability to work. When I was finally forced to stop engaging in worldly practices, I felt like I had lost everything. Instead of embracing my identity in Christ, I embraced the worthlessness that our work-focused culture creates.
Genesis 2:2-3
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
In Genesis, we are told that God created the world in six days. He took an empty, dark void and created life, water, and a planet for us to call home. For six days, he did good hard work. And on the seventh day, instead of continuing to work, God chose to rest.
God still had work to do for his ultimate plan when he chose to rest. To this day, he is still working. Remarkably, instead of continuing towards the finish line, God intentionally chose to stop and rest. The one being who could sustain a “just work harder” mindset intentionally chose to stop the cycle.
From the very beginning, God knew rest was needed, and because of the love he had for the people he had created, he intentionally rested to set an example.
God didn’t need to rest on the seventh day of creation. He is greater and holier than everything. Nothing can stand against Him, so he would never reach a point where he was “forced” to rest. Instead, he set aside his lack of limitations to teach us how to embrace our limitations.
Exodus 20:8-11
The Ten Commandments
“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.”
We’ve always known that the Sabbath is a part of the Bible but we haven’t chosen to take it seriously. We prefer the part of the Gospel that calls us to action, rather than embracing the part that calls us towards rest.
God is about our life, not our destruction. We have to view observing the Sabbath with the same importance as making disciples, feeding the poor, and not causing destruction. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8) holds the same amount of weight as “you shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).
I know we live in a world where it’s easy for Satan to whisper that we need to keep working if we want to amount to anything. I know that people you love, respect, and look up to have probably told you to work harder. And friend, I know more than anyone, how much it hurts to rest when resting is your only option.
I’m here to remind you that the work has already been done. God created the world, he created humanity, and he sent his son down to save it. His son died a horrific death on a cross so that the work could be done for you.
You don’t have to work harder. You don’t have to feel guilty for setting boundaries and choosing to stop.
As your sister who sat on a couch for a year, wondering why God thought she wasn’t worth doing more, I want you to know that you are worth everything. God sent his son to save you because to him, you are priceless. To Him, you are worth doing the good work of the gospel: and that means taking action and resting.
God could have kept creating on the seventh day, but He didn’t. He stopped because he knew that you and I needed to learn that it is good and right for us to stop working and rest in his creation. God made the Sabbath holy so that his people could rest their souls, bodies, and minds while knowing that rest was accomplishing the good work of the Gospel.
The Sabbath is a beautiful gift intended to give us life. Just as we need to understand why we observe the Sabbath, we need to learn how to observe the Sabbath.
The church my husband and I have attended since college has been working through a sermon series in Galatians. During this series, our pastors have discussed how people add religious rules to the purity of the Gospel. Rather than accepting the Gospel for what it is, we create false rules to help us feel like we’ve earned God’s grace.
As I’ve thought more and more about this idea, I’ve realized that this is exactly what we have done to the Sabbath. Instead of accepting Sabbath as a gift from God, we’ve set societal rules for how we should accept this incredible gift.
There are two extremes to observing the Sabbath, and I would argue both come from an overly worldy generalization of the Bible. The first extreme, and the one that we are more likely to accept as being inaccurate, is that we shouldn’t observe a Sabbath at all. This is a perspective driven by the work culture we experience in our personal lives. When we live in this extreme perspective, we either don’t think we need to rest, or we feel so busy that we don’t believe we can rest.
The second extreme perspective is that we are only truly observing the Sabbath if we sit at home and do nothing. We can’t do things outside of our home without being a reason others cannot observe the Sabbath, and we can’t do anything within our own homes without us breaking the Sabbath.
Mark 2:23-3:6
Lord of the Sabbath
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.
Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
He looked around them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
The second extreme opinion of the Sabbath is where we see the Pharisees hearts during this story. Time and time again, Jesus healed and gave back life on the Sabbath. Because of pseudo-rules that religious organizations created, Jesus was viewed as evil for “breaking the Sabbath”.
What I want us to get from this recounting in Mark is how humanely Jesus embraced the Sabbath. He didn’t ignore it, and he didn’t sit still in a room. Instead, Jesus and his disciples took a walk. They rested by spending time enjoying God’s creation. They mindlessly picked grain while walking, not because they had to, but because they found joy and rest in the motion. They found rest through connecting with what God so freely gave.
Through the interactions of Jesus and the Pharisees, we are reminded that the Sabbath is intended to do good and bring about life. We are reminded that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). God created Sabbath not for himself but for his people.
What does this mean about how we can observe the Sabbath?
I would argue that we can observe the Sabbath and keep it holy by doing anything that brings about life. Instead of continuing with your usual work, intentionally consider what gives your mind, body, and soul rest.
If you find rest by cooking for your family, then cook, and use that time to intentionally be in God’s presence. If you can’t relax because all you can think about is how dirty your home is, then spend time cleaning, and thank God for giving you a home to clean. If you find physical and mental rest by testing your body's physical limits, then go on that hike, run, or bike ride and praise God that he has given you a body capable of movement. If you want to wear pajamas and watch movies all day, thank the Lord for giving you the time to rest for the week ahead.
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. God made the Sabbath uniquely for his people the same way he made us unique.
Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy by practicing intentional rest for your soul, body, and mind. Your Sabbath doesn’t have to be the same as someone else’s. All you have to do is stop, choose life, and praise God for the endless outlets he has provided for you to find rest in his creation.
Reflection
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In Exodus 20:8-11 we are told to “remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” and “on it you shall not do any work”.
In Mark 2:23-3:6 we see Jesus and his disciples doing what others viewed as work on the Sabbath.
Considering what we learn from the Gospel, both in the Old and New Testaments, what do you think it means to not work on the Sabbath?
What does it mean to keep the Sabbath holy?
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What are ways you already, or want to, observe the Sabbath?
Be mindful that this is different from setting rules for the Sabbath. For example, when I launched the Instagram part of Perennial Devotionals, I intentionally chose to not post on Sundays. Eventually, this evolved to deciding to avoid all social media on Sabbath.
Here’s the difference. I know that if I go on social media on my Sabbath, I am still a loved child of God who is saved by grace. I know that me going on, or remaining off, social media does not change my identity in Christ.
However, I chose to stop going on social media on Sundays to help me be more intentional with my time. I realized how easily I could waste the time God had given me and so I chose to set it aside one day a week.
Just as I know that I’m not saved by my ability to avoid Instagram, I know that by making that decision, I am creating an environment where I am more open to spending time in God’s presence.
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We briefly discussed the two extreme points of view when it comes to observing the Sabbath. To review, on one side of the extremes is completely avoiding the Sabbath and on the other side, is observing the Sabbath but not doing anything on it.
When considering this “scale” set by Sabbath observance extremes, where do you think you sit
Do you tend to ignore or forget about observing the Sabbath, or do you intentionally try to do nothing on the Sabbath?
Are you open to growing your perspective and learning more about what it means to observe the Sabbath?
What is a healthy middle between the two extremes?
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We’ve talked about a lot of different aspects of the Sabbath in this month’s devotional. We’ve covered the origin, the reappearance in the Ten Commandments, and Jesus’ approach in the New Testament.
We’ve considered the extremes to observing the Sabbath and our current relationship with the Sabbath.
Moving forward, how do you want your relationship with the Sabbath to change? What areas of growth do you have to learn a healthy relationship with our day of rest?
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Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for taking the time during the creation of this world to create a Sabbath. Thank you for knowing, from the very beginning, how deeply your children would need to learn how to rest. Thank you for setting aside your own abilities to set an example for us.
I pray Father, that this devotional would be of you and for you. Let the words that I share be a direct gift from you, to your children. Don’t let my words be what is heard, Lord, but yours.
I pray that the resources shared in this devotional can be a reminder to your children of how deeply we need rest. I pray that your children will come to you in prayer when deciding what observing the Sabbath means.
It’s so easy for us to grow downcast Lord. To become weary from what this world demands. It’s so easy for us to desire to avoid rest - be it for our own success, or because we feel like it's all we are called to in this season.
You know I was there for so long, Lord. You asked me to learn how to rest no matter how much it hurt in the moment, because you knew it was for my ultimate good.
May my brothers and sisters, see that you calling us to rest is a blessing. The rest you provide, the rest you call us to, is a gift intended to give us life.
May we come to you on the Sabbath. May we see you in our works, and keep the Sabbath holy in that way - no matter how we choose to observe it.
Your son told us that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Let it be so. Let us bow to your kingdom.
Father, we are your children. You’ve known us from the beginning.
Send your Holy Spirit to hold your children close as we learn how to be called to rest, over action.
You are a good and great God, and we praise You.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Amen