Everybody has something (or several things) that they struggle with. At least for me, it seems that I have some things I struggle with for a season and some things that are recurring themes in my life. One of those things for me is finding balance and Sabbath. For as long as I’ve had some say in scheduling my own activities, I tend to do as much as I can. The funny thing is, I never feel like I do that much.
But several times this week, I’ve felt the quiet reminder in my soul that I need rest. It was one of those deep soul feelings. Man, wouldn’t it be great if I had a day of rest, I thought. Now you’re read the title of this post, so you know where I’m going with this but all the sudden it hit me – Sabbath. I do in fact have a day of rest. Immediately I remembered, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)
This deep-seated desire for rest is God-given, and dare I say, holy. Something that struck me was that the Sabbath has been in place from the beginning. It wasn’t one of the laws given as a result of our sinfulness. No, when all was right in the world, when all things were new, work and rest coexisted in a way that created shalom.
The problem isn’t that we should stop working. In the beginning, Adam and Eve had jobs to do. The problem isn’t even that we shouldn’t work hard. God tells us, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord,” (Colossians 3:23) which seems to say to me that we should give any jobs God has tasked us with all that we’ve got. But we need to leave space in our lives to simply rest in the goodness of God.
Sabbath can rejuvenate us, but it is also a reminder that we aren’t really in control anyway. God gives the increase. Not us. Not our work. Not our efforts. All Him.
So in the coming weeks I’m going to renew my efforts to find Sabbath, create space, and rest in the goodness of God, 5 minutes here and there at a time. How about you?
Adventures of Our Own 