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Sabbath.

The word gets thrown around pretty easily. I see it often in blog posts, in my inbox and in Scripture. Somewhere in the course of my life, I seemed to have let myself slide into thinking it meant going to church on Sundays.

But as of late, I am coming to realize it truly means so much more.

Sabbath > “the seventh day of the week, as the day of rest and religious observance among Jews and some Christians; any special day of prayer or rest resembling the Sabbath; any special day of prayer or rest” (dictionary.com).

Sabbath, or the Hebrew word “sabbat”, actually means to stop or to cease. When we take time to stop working, we display an act of trust that it is God holding everything together and not us. We acknowledge our hands do not need to be in everything at every single moment in time.

“Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly. Then the Lord will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken!” (Isaiah 58:13-14, NLT)

As I read this Scripture, I wrote in the margin of my Bible – “Keeping the Sabbath –> reward” :

  1. “The Lord will be your delight.”
  2. “I will give you great honor.”
  3. “I will satisfy you.”

OK, if I’m honest, I like those rewards. But somehow I skipped over the part of what one must do to obtain those rewards 🙂 So I backed up a verse to get the full picture ….

  • “Keep the Sabbath day holy.” Set a day apart to God – to think about Him, to worship Him, to hear His Word.
  • “Don’t pursue your own interests on that day.” Keep a day off from work. Your body, soul and spirit will be most grateful.
  • “Enjoy the Sabbath.” May the day you set aside become a day of delight for you. May you look forward to the time you spend with Him.
  • “Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day.” My mind curiously changed this to … If it doesn’t honor Him on that day then don’t do it. That is one way to keep from activity on the Sabbath.
  • “Don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.” Both will lead us away from resting in Him.

Sabbath doesn’t come easily as we are so programmed to doing, going, and keeping busy. We fall into the trap of thinking these define productivity and perhaps they do in many ways. Yet in order to keep on being productive, we need time to get rest and be renewed.

Keeping the Sabbath will bring me to resting in Him.

Keeping the Sabbath —> reward.

 

 

Today I am joining … Thought Provoking Thursday and Everyday Jesus .