Exodus 16:29
“They must realize that the Sabbath is the Lord’s gift to you. That is why he gives you a two-day supply on the sixth day, so there will be enough for two days. On the Sabbath day you must each stay in your place. Do not go out to pick up food on the seventh day.”
This is not a post about whether or not to keep the sabbath day as in the law of Moses.
This is a sharing about how God loves us so much, he doesn’t want us to keep toiling and burn out.
We are no longer under the law. Jesus Christ fulfilled the law and now we are under grace. This does not make the old testament redundant. The old testament teaches us a lot about the character of God and his timeless principles. One of the things I love is how God values rest and allowing time for his people to rest. This is corroborated in the new testament as well where it says, ‘…the sabbath was made for man , not man for the sabbath.’ and ‘Jesus Christ is Lord even over the sabbath.’.
The Psalmist says in Psalms 127
“Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labour in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.“
We live in a ‘hustle culture’ today. #TeamNoDaysOff #WhatIsTheWeekend? #AlwaysOnTheGrind #SelfMade
But, God desires that man rest and recharge. He wants us to get off the hamster wheel of life. There is no need to always be ‘on’. This is a trap to keep us so distracted with everyday things like bills , work, food, how to make more money, the latest trending thing on the streaming platform , social media… that we never find time to be still and connect with God or recharge. We find ourselves burnt out, our mind becomes scattered, our phones are always buzzing and now we are also expected to take our work home with us. We have got all this ‘important’ stuff to get to. When do we rest?
Stop.
If the creator of the universe himself, found it necessary to rest after the great work of creating the universe and even told his people to rest as in our banner scripture for today , how much more rest do we need now? If the Lord Jesus Christ himself in the new testament constantly broke away from the crowd while there was still work left to do -just to go somewhere quiet to have a bit of a break , recharge and talk to our Father – who are we to think we are so superhuman and can keep going on and on and never stop- to smell the roses, or just breathe in the air and take a moment to drink from the deep never ending fountain of God to refresh your spirit.
It’s a trap.
Find time to be still and know that he is God.
Don’t allow the world to rush you and keep you distracted. Make a conscious effort to rest in God every day of your life. God will show us how – go on, ask him.
God bless you.
If you have not yet received Jesus Christ in your life, now is as good a time as any! If you need help with what to say, try this:
Lord Jesus , I confess with my mouth that you alone are Lord. You are the son of God and he raised you from the dead. Please forgive me of my sins and be my personal saviour from today. Write my name in your book of Life. Thank you for this eternal gift and bringing me into the kingdom of God. Amen.