I am so busy. I was asked to write this article about the Sabbath, yet rest is the very thing I need right now. If I even attempted to explain how busy I am, it would take me the length of this article to describe all the things I have to do everyday in order to accomplish my goals. Now, if truth be told, the fact that I am too busy to articulate my schedule may be an indication that something is severely wrong with my life right now. Carl Gustav Jung is quoted as saying “Busyness is not just FROM the Devil, it IS the Devil.” Jung may be right; but the fact that I am American might account more for the current state of my day. After all, American conventional wisdom is that if you are going to be successful in the United States, then you must always be busy.
The Physical Importance of the Sabbath
I don’t know if busyness is the Devil or not, but I am sure that the busier I get the less chance I have to develop intimate relationships in my life. I look at my life and I think, what is this success that I am striving for? Is this type of success worth it if it pulls me away from genuine relationships that matter? But, would things be any different for me if I kept the day of rest?
In order to experience the benefit of the Sabbath we must treat its observance as a command rather than as an invitation or a suggestion or even a concept. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27, 28). Here Jesus demonstrates his authority to the religious leaders of his day, and in the process he makes clear God’s intent of the Sabbath. Jesus declares that this command was given to “benefit man.” The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had it wrong: Mankind did not exist to obey the Sabbath. No, the Sabbath was instituted to meet mankind’s need for rest after hard work. The Eternal God had no need for physical rest, but within the creatures He had fearfully and wonderfully made, He built in the need for rest. We are showing respect for the wisdom of God and respect for our mortal body when we keep His day of rest.
The Spiritual Importance of the Sabbath
The Lord said through the prophet Ezekiel, “I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I, Jehovah, sanctify them” (Ezekiel 20:12). The prophet says clearly that the Sabbath was given that the people of God may know God! How is this so? The Sabbath restricted the movements and work load of the Jewish people; the only thing the Jewish person could do was to use that time to spend developing his or her relationship with God and his or her family. The fact is, many people looked at the Sabbath as simply another command, instead of seeing the reality that God’s heart is that His children use the Sabbath as the time to build on their relationship with Him and with their families. We need to obey the practical call to rest so that we can experience the spiritual call to rest. Hebrews 4:9 says, “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.” God has re-created us through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus has completed the work of redemption and reconciliation; we can now enjoy an unending and an uninterrupted intimate relationship with God, our Father. It is in relationship that we come to know God as Father and are empowered by His Spirit to do God’s work.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Let’s un-busy ourselves. God has commanded us to observe His rest for our body so that we may come to know His rest for our soul. We should work toward the day when this web of busyness, rest, and relationship become our habit. We should be obedient to God now and make His rest and His relationship our priority, our habit, beginning today.
