Daytimer Disease

We really struggle with the concept of a Sabbath in our culture. We are a busy busy people! A 1998 Reuters report claimed that the average worker gets interrupted 169 times each day! When others ask us "how are you?" instead of "fine," we’re tempted to say "I’m busy !"

Thankfully, our source of ultimate wisdom and understanding – God’s Word - never changes. And the Bible is very clear about taking a day of rest. God Himself rested on the seventh day, and the Old Testament concept of a Sabbath wasn’t only for people. God gave guidelines for the land to rest, and crops to be rotated. God’s entire creation takes a necessary pause – day and night, summer and winter, a time to work and a time to rest. God’s Word is always right. It is a Biblical principle to work hard, and it is also a Biblical principle to take a time of rest – a Sabbath.

How often do we feel pulled in opposite directions? While responding to the needs of a child or spouse do we feel guilty about letting someone down at work? And while working do we feel guilty about not doing something at church? And while serving at church do we feel guilty about missing a significant event with one of our children? We feel pulled apart! But God’s Word is still true. We need to rest. Look at Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. There is a time for everything, and the Bible is consistent in regards to a sabbath rest.

Authors Graves and Addington in their book, The Fourth Frontier write: "Rest requires faith. It takes faith not to work on the Sabbath – faith not to worry about getting left behind, about getting everything done, about pressure from peers who don’t observe a biblical rest." Observing a Sabbath rest is not about a list of do’s and don’ts, but about trusting God to give us His wisdom and leading concerning our activities. It is not being legalistic about our schedules but allowing God to gracefully guide us day by day. He knows what we need, and created us to have a time of "refueling", of "drinking in", of restoration. Observing a Sabbath is about "ceasing from our doing" – actually, it’s about "being" instead of "doing." For God loves us simply because we belong to Him; not because of what we do. Even Jesus, with the constant demands on Him, often took times of rest to be with the Father and pray. And when He said "It is finished", it was.

Thanks to Stephen Graves and Thomas Addington for their insightful book, The Fourth Frontier

Psalm 90:12 Colossians 3:17 Ecclesiastes 7:18 Psalm 116:7 Matthew 11:28 Mark 6:31