Keeping the Sabbath - Part 4

DAILY BYTE

There is a natural rhythm between work and rest, which we ignore at our peril. This is a law that is part of the design of creation. Indeed, in the creation story in Genesis 1 – 2 we read how God rested from His work of creation on the seventh day. This was not because God was exhausted from the task of creating the heavens and the earth, but because God Himself understood that without rest and reflection, the work we do is in fact diminished and impoverished.

This natural rhythm between work and rest is a bit like the rhythm of breathing in and breathing out. Ignore it and you’ll soon collapse. Honour the rhythm, and you’ll be able to function as you ought, maximising your effectiveness.

The Sabbath establishes this rhythm clearly and decisively.

The story is told from the days of the American frontier settlers of a wagon train on its way from St Louis to Oregon. Its members were devout Christians, so the whole group observed the habit of stopping for the Sabbath day.

However, winter was approaching quickly and some among the group began to panic that they wouldn’t reach their destination before the heavy snows. They proposed to the rest of the group that they should quit their practice of stopping for the Sabbath and continue driving onward seven days a week.

This triggered a lot of contention in the community, so finally it was suggested that the wagon train should split into two groups - those who wanted to observe the Sabbath and those who wanted to travel on that day. This proposal was accepted, and both groups set out and travelled together until the next Sabbath, when one group continued while the other remained at rest.

Guess which group got to their destination first? That’s right. The ones who kept the Sabbath. Not only did their Sabbath observance renew both the people and the horses so they could travel more effectively the other six days of the week, but more importantly it enabled them to remain connected with the source of their strength and sustenance, and reminded them of the broader purpose of their lives in the first place.

Some questions for reflection:

How often do you find yourself ‘pushing on’ when the demands of life are piling up on you? What does this say about how you value the importance of rest?

Do you stop only when you’re forced to – when you collapse in a heap of exhaustion or when you get sick?

If your body could speak to you right now about how you’re living your life, what would it say to you?

Parkinson’s Law states that “work expands to fill the time available for it.” How does this challenge your attitude to your work?

PRAY AS YOU GO

Gracious God, you give all of us work to do, and our work is truly worship when we do it to your glory. But we acknowledge that our work can easily become a form of idolatry. And so we thank you for your example that reminds us of the natural rhythm between working and resting. Remind us that our faithfulness in resting enables our work to be seen in its rightful perspective – as a means to an end, and not an end in itself. Amen.

FOCUS READING

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 he had done.