Sabbath Rest

I keep a busy schedule with my husband and children, working full time, working on my Doctoral studies, and keeping my home, etc. I know we are all very busy. During my reading through the Old Testament, the Lord began to convict me of His provision and my need for a Sabbath. The only way that I was setting aside a Sabbath was by going to church on Sunday mornings. The rest of the day was not too different from the rest of the days of my week with shopping, school work, checking my email, sometimes work, etc.

Now, I am not writing this to convince anyone else that they need to do what I have done and I have not chosen my course of action as a legalistic requirement of the law. Rather, I share this as evidence of ways that faith is required in our everyday decisions. As I read verses like Exodus 20:8-10, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work…” and Deuteronomy 5:12, “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.” I was more and more convinced this was a necessary provision for my life. However, I could not imagine how I could possibly get done in 6 days, what it had been taking me 7 days to do. Then I saw it, Leviticus 25:20-22, “And if you say, "What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?" Then I will command My
blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.” The Israelites were commanded to let their land rest every 7
years; their question was how will there be enough eat. God said he would bless them in the sixth year so they would have enough for three years until the next crop came in.

Based on the principle in Leviticus 25, I have chosen to observe a Sabbath. For me, it is Sunday, but it doesn’t have to be. I make every effort to not check my email or go on the computer, get groceries or go shopping, or do school work. I purpose to set the day apart unto the Lord to be refreshed in my body, mind and spirit. I believe in so doing, God has blessed the work of my hands the other 6 days so I still get done what it used to take me 7 days to do. It requires faith to believe that if I devote one day to a Sabbath, He will make up the difference in the time “lost” to get things done. And He has.

God may not be prompting you to observe a Sabbath, but what is it in your life that He is calling you to step out in faith to believe and obey?

Diane