Part of our agenda this month is preaching in villages. Last week, I came up in the rotation and had the privilege of preaching in a rural village. This blog comes from the message I gave.
We live in a “doing” society. Our lives are marked by busyness, schedules, to-do lists, planners, and cell phone calendars. We are constantly trying to squeeze in just one more thing. Sometimes I think we have lost the art of resting altogether.
In Exodus 20, we find the familiar passage in which God gives Moses the ten commandments. Skip down to verses 8-10 and we find the commandment on Sabbath. God uses three full verses to give instructions on Sabbath, and it comes up in Scripture numerous times throughout the entire Bible. In contrast with the other commandments, why do you think so much extra detail is given on Sabbath?
[insert exo 20:8-10]
I think the reason so much detail is given is because God knows how bent on activity we are as humans. It goes against our nature to just be still. Being still can be seen as many things – lazy, unproductive, pointless, boring, frustrating, depressing, and the list could go on.
We have created a culture of workaholism and people who don’t succumb to that pressure often get looked down upon. People who take regular vacations with their families are simultaneously envied and judged. Other people want that freedom and relaxation but are unwilling to take it for themselves, much less cut things out of their lives to make time for it. This is why God gave so much instruction on rest.
We see Jesus live out and beautifully model what rest really should look like. Take a walk with me through Matthew 14 for one example. In the first section, we see John the Baptist, Jesus’s cousin and dearly beloved friend, get beheaded by Herod. Upon hearing this news, Jesus’s first inclination was to retreat into solitude and be alone with His Father to pray.
On His way to do this, He runs into a massive crowd of people who have been following Him and feels compassion for them. In this passage we read about one of Jesus’s most famous miracles – the feeding of the 5,000. What we often fail to realize is that this miracle occurred in the middle of Jesus’s heartbreak. He didn’t stop loving others because He felt broken.
After the 5,000 have been fed, we see Jesus immediately go away again from His disciples to the top of a mountain to commune with God. He went there to rest and recharge through the presence of the Father. He didn’t go rest by taking a nap, He rested through prayer and being with God. Where did Jesus hear God’s voice? In His rest.
If Jesus Himself needed rest, why do we think we are somehow less dependent? We have built ourselves up in our minds as unstoppable superhumans that can climb the corporate ladder, work through one more family dinner, skip one more of our kids’ school plays, and push the bar just a little bit higher in order to achieve success. We place our real faith in money and ourselves and in that process lose so much more than just our relationships. We lose ourselves.
The problem with all of this is it takes years in most cases for people to realize the hole they’ve dug themselves into. Why do midlife crises happen at midlife? You wake up one day and look around at all your possessions or all your trophies or all your accomplishments and what strikes you is the whaling void of happiness.
In Matthew 11, Jesus talks about this point of weariness where you’ve come to the end of your rope. He says, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Jesus’s rest comes through a yoke. A yoke places restrictions and guidelines upon you. It takes away part of your free will and freedom. Jesus asks us to willingly give up part of what we technically can do in order to live a life that is restful. Why?
In 1 Kings 19, Elijah is talking with the Lord and asks to hear His voice. God complies. Many events unfold from fire, to mighty, mountain tearing wind, to an earthquake. God’s voice wasn’t heard in any of these deafeningly loud things. Following all of this, there is a gentle whisper – a still small voice. God’s voice came then. In the quiet.
This brings more clarity to the importance of rest, does it not? God isn’t going to shout over the noise of our lives. He is going to meet us in His sanctuary. Rest and Sabbath creates space to realign ourselves with His voice. He is the true Shepherd. His voice is our guide.
Rather than structuring God around our lives, why aren’t we structuring our lives around God? Which part of your schedule is non-negotiable? The things you’re willing to skip speak more loudly about your priorities than your words do. Creating space for Sabbath feels completely unnatural at first. It’s countercultural to take an entire day off each week to intentionally seek God and just be in His presence. What eventually happens, though, is our hearts begin to beat to a rhythm of rest. In time, you begin to crave Sabbath. You look forward in expectancy to your sacred day each week.
You might be reading this and thinking to yourself that this is too good to be true, unrealistic, airy fairy, or a plethora of other things. My challenge to you is this: don’t knock it until you try it. Give it a month.
Stay tuned for a second part to this blog on what Sabbath should and should not look like! Coming soon.
