Sabbath Rest

An interesting thought was brought to my attention yesterday...if you think about time spans, almost everything can be dictated and explained by nature.

A year is one trip around the sun, or a cycle of 4 seasons (if you're lucky enough to live somewhere that experiences all four seasons.)

A month can more or less be determined by the cycle of the moon.

A day is one rotation of the earth; a cycle of day and night...roughly 24 hours.

And while these things are all a direct product of God's wonderful design, they can be explained by those who don't believe as a result of nature.

But how do you explain a week? Almost every culture throughout history has lived their lives in a cycle of 7 days. And now, even in our postmodern society, people live for the weekend. There is nothing in nature (that I can discern) that can explain a cycle of 7 days making a week. And yet, the concept of a week goes back to the very creation of the world. So in some way or another, we are all acknowledging, if not recognizing, that original cycle of 7 days: the week.

In the Bible, 7 is the number of perfection. God created the world and everything in it in 6 days; on the 7th, His work was complete...it was a day of rest.

I've been convicted in the last few years that I don't do a very good job keeping the Sabbath. So now, Sunday is a day of worship and rest. The washing machine can wait. My school email doesn't need to be checked. Lesson plans don't need to happen. Saturday nights are often frantic, readying our home so that we can truly relax and enjoy our day of Sabbath rest. We're not there yet, but we are a work in progress.

So here are some thoughts about the Sabbath:

In Exodus 20, the Israelites were commanded to observe the Sabbath DAY (not the Sabbath hour.) I know of many people who work, work, work, but justify their workaholism on Sunday, because they go to church first.

The Sabbath should be the beginning of our week, not the end of our weekend. (Most calendar companies have this right...why is it so hard for us?) Am I giving God the firstfruits of my week by setting aside this day for Him?

Nowhere in Scripture is a specific day commanded to be the Sabbath, but one day should be set aside. It doesn't really matter if you attend a worship service on Saturday, Sunday, or Tuesday. Many people have no choice but to work on Sundays (special props go out to our pastors and church staff), but are you setting aside another day for God's work and the rest He's offering?

I guess I just find it very interesting that people who fight against God still embrace this unexplainable cycle called a week...the Sabbath was given as a gift to us, not a list of rules to shackle us to a legalistic religion.