Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.

– Deuteronomy 5:12-15

It’s hard, isn’t it? And I’m not talking about getting out of bed to go to church on Sunday mornings! I’m talking about putting aside all the busyness and setting aside all the things we never got to during the week so that we can focus solely on the sabbath and keeping it holy as God commanded. Moses writes in Deuteronomy that God said to “Observe the sabbath day,” and in Exodus to “Remember the sabbath day.” Either way, we’re called to action.

For me, one way to observe and remember the sabbath is to be in worship and fellowship with my church family on Sunday mornings. Ever since I was a little girl, worshipping at Westminster has been part of my Sunday ritual. So, I think I’m pretty good about that part of the scripture.

What I struggle with is the idea of just “resting” for the rest of the day, and not doing any work at all, especially when I see so much that needs done. It would be much easier if the Blue Laws that once kept stores closed on Sundays still existed, wouldn’t it? Then we wouldn’t have a choice. But they don’t, and we do have choices. That said, I think there are ways to “rest” that may not seem like resting, but are ways to glorify God.

PRAYER:

Dear God, thank you for loving us enough to give us the gift of Sabbath. Help us to stop and rest in You. Amen.

– Beth Ketterman