I had the pleasure of reading many scriptures this week pointing to the importance of God alignment and the Sabbath.
Starting with “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy” from the 10 Commandments. And I do. I love our Sundays with a morning doing church and Bible study class, followed by a meal out and a nap. This feels like a strong start to this commandment.
God made the Sabbath an edict for a couple of reasons: a day of blessing and a holy day of reconnecting with God, to enrich, restore, and revitalize.
Exodus 20:11
“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
One of the reasons for honoring the Sabbath and keeping it holy is that when we do not, we continue to be slaves – slaves to work and separate from God and His abundance.
Deuteronomy 14:15
“But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work… And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.”
I loved Psalm 92, which refers to keeping the Sabbath and bearing fruit in old age, remaining fresh, bright, and youthful by having a reconnect day dedicated to God every 7th day.
Psalm 92:13-14
“Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing.”
One scripture that particularly jumped out to me, which I have never really noticed before this study, was:
Exodus 31:14-15
“You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.”
And I can say, we need that deep, honoring connection every 7 days. God wants it for us. I thought about how I end up doing laundry if the weekend has gotten away from us, and I may fold 7-10 loads to get it done before the week begins anew. This is the defeat for me of the Sabbath, as I got a piece of it but not an entire day. If we work so hard that we are slaves to life, we do surely wither and die. Whether we are put to death or not, we have failed ourselves and missed out on the full blessings that come with this full day of renewal.
I had fun shopping online for some Sabbath candle holders and candles and imagined starting our Sabbath with all work complete at 5 p.m. Saturday, enjoying a lovely dinner, scripture reading, singing, and prayers to start our Sabbath. One lovely tradition our dear Emona shared was a blessing given to each child by the parents, using both hands on the top of their head and sealing the blessing with a kiss.
The two challenges I have been working on are finding a helper for Adelia for a couple of hours on Sunday (she doesn’t nap) and getting all laundry done by 5 p.m. Saturday so it is not piled up waiting for me Sunday to fold. I think everything is doable, it just needs some careful planning.
The command to honor a Sabbath each week is not what God needs of us, but what we need to feel the deep renewal God wants for each of us. When our candles arrive and we’ve got our rhythm, I’ll snap some pics of our new tradition of Sabbath eve and share them here. I wish you a beautiful day of rest and renewal.
