On the seventh day-with the canvas of the cosmos completed - God paused from His labor and rested. This God blessed day seven and made it special-an open time for pause and restoration, a sacred zone of Sabbath-keeping, because God rested from all the work He had done in creation that day.
Observation
Pastor John Lindell
When work becomes an idol our worship ceases to exist. We lose our sense of joy. We lose our perspective. We lose our health. If we don't take our sabbath, eventually we will be forced to. Our tendency towards the sabbath is that we feel so busy that we neglect the sabbath therefore are neglecting something that God has given us.
Give your work to Him, just as you would your finances. Honor God through the sabbath just as you would anything else and He will honor you. God wants you to give a day so He can recreate you to do His work the rest of the week. The sabbath was designed to: Protect the body from wearing out, protect the spirit from tuning out, and protect the soul from burning out.
God created the sabbath so that we could unplug from the urgent and plug into the important.
Application
I have been in ministry now for five years and have been a Christian for 12, but I have heard and been taught very little about the sabbath. It has seemed like an unspoken rule that those in ministry don't or shouldn't get a sabbath, because they always need to be "on-call" for the sheep. Somehow the fact that ministers need rest too get's lost in translation.
As an introvert I especially feel the desire to quiet myself and just plug into God. I long to hear the steady hum of His Spirit pouring into me and re-creating me for the week. But I can't do that if I am still plugged into the urgent. I've got to resist the temptation to react and instead receive the important so that i can be re-created to do what He has purposed for me to do.
Prayer
My prayer is simple this morning Lord. I want You!
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