By Ian Wooldridge – April 2, 2020

A couple years ago, I woke up in Jerusalem.

I left my hotel room, went down to the lobby, and then went out for a walk on the streets.

Something felt strange, though.

Everything just felt different. It’s like the air itself was clearer. I couldn’t explain why, or put any words to it — something just felt lighter.

Like everything and everyone just took a really deep breath.

Then someone who I was traveling with said, “It’s Sabbath day for them!”

Oh.

I remember thinking, “I dig this.”

now they were just being.

It was as if the universe hit pause, and I was able to see first-hand how the Jewish people practiced the art of the Sabbath Day. I had been introduced to Sabbath before my time in Israel, but there was just something so compelling about being in Jerusalem on the Sabbath that I left with a new vision for how I could take up this invitation, woven into the oldest story ever told.

The story goes like this:

Genesis 2 says it this way:

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”¹

When God chose to rest, it’s not like He needed sleep because of how tired He was; or that He needed to take a break because He was just so worn out from universe-making.

The kind of rest we read about in Genesis 2 is of an entirely different kind than society or culture may define it:

Genesis 2 paints the picture of Sabbath rest.

The word rested in that Genesis 2 passage is the Hebrew word shabbat, where we get the word Sabbath. The word simply means to cease, to stop, and to rest. It can also mean to celebrate or to delight in.

When God chose to rest, we’re given a picture of how work and rest go hand in hand with each other. We don’t work to the point of exhaustion just to make it to the weekend where we can lay on the couch and watch Netflix all day and then do it all again. That’s not exactly the kind rest that the Sabbath rest of Genesis 2 is getting at.

So, before we look at this week’s practice, I want to make a disclaimer:

I am not prescribing that Sabbath is a once-per-week, 24-hour day that you must observe. I’m not after legalism, for that’s not what life with Jesus is about. In Jesus, the spirit of Sabbath is something that we walk with all week long — it’s a moment-by-moment, interactive, abiding friendship. But, I will say this: we can get so caught up in our doing that we never actually are being with Jesus. We have all the intention in the world for carving out time to follow Jesus — we just never really get around to it.

So, I’m going to propose a question to you — an idea that may sound crazy.

Take it or leave it, all invitation.

Buckle up, here we go:

What if you had a Sabbath Day?

I know. You’re like…. what?

In this blog, I simply want to propose the wisdom that my wife and I — and so many others — have found in taking an actual once-per-week, 24-hour Sabbath Day. Again, that’s not prescriptive; but just follow me here for a bit.

Having a regular Sabbath Day may not be a “law” that we have to follow; but it stands as wisdom in a world where bigger, faster, more! is the water we swim in — where hurry and overload is accepted as “normal.” So, I just simply want to propose an idea to you — an invitation; that’s all.

In Exodus 16, Moses records, “They must realize that the Sabbath is the LORD’s gift to you.” ²

Whether it’s practiced in a full, 24-hour day or not, the concept of Sabbath is a gift: a way of doing life that prioritizes being with God over doing for Him — for our doing will always flow best from our being. ³

So, before we dive in, a heart-to-heart real quick: I’ve tasted and seen how abundantly good a once-per-week, 24-hour Sabbath Day has been to not propose the idea; I’ve tasted and seen how having a Sabbath Day has driven me further into love for and delight in God — in a way that frames how I approach the other six days of the week — to not propose the idea. Again, it’s all invitation. But, this practice has changed my life. It could change yours, too.

The Practice: A Sabbath Day

Over the course of the next several weeks, as events are being cancelled and as we’re told to stay home, most of us will be finding ourselves with some unforeseen down time and margin.

Embrace this.

So much of what otherwise was filling our schedules has been at least temporarily removed or put on halt. What an opportunity to evaluate if our current (before COVID-19) schedule gave us life, or took from it. So, what better time to run our schedules by this litmus test, and ask:

Now, this is where the practice of a Sabbath Day could be a breakthrough for us. So, really quickly, what could that look like? Again, the Hebrew word shabbat that we get the English rested from in Genesis 2 means to stop, to cease, to rest, and also can be translated as to celebrate or to delight in.

So, right here, we’re given the two primary foundations for which to build this special, set-apart day upon:

Rest and worship.

So, on our Sabbath Day, we run everything we do through this filter: is this restful and worshipful? If the answer is yes, we do a lot of that. If the answer is no, there’s other times for that. And this will look differently for everyone. Whatever is restful and worshipful for you — if it draws you deeper into rest, and deeper into enjoyment of God,

do a lot of that on your Sabbath Day. ⁴

Now, while a Sabbath Day may look different from one person to the next, there are some things that a Sabbath Day is not. As alluded to earlier, society has its own working definition of “rest” that stands in contrast with what makes a Sabbath Day so awesome:

First, a Sabbath Day is not the same thing as a day off. For example, when my wife and I have our Sabbath Day, it’s not just a pause from the work we get paid for; it’s a pause from other work, too — a day when groceries, errands, the budget, etc… are already all taken care of. It’s a day when we don’t even do that kind of work — and I love going to get groceries!

Second, as alluded to earlier, society gives us a working definition of “rest” that looks a lot like escapism. The kind of rest we practice on our Sabbath Day isn’t meant to be a time where we escape from life in God’s good world by turning to a culturally acceptable vice of choice; it’s when we celebrate and delight in our life with God. So, the invitation of a Sabbath Day is to fill your soul with things that nurture joy and delight in God and His world.

Also, there’s another reality to Sabbath that’s just too good to miss.

When Moses is giving the Sabbath command in the Deuteronomy account, he says: “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”⁵

I love my rhythm of Sabbathing every week because it’s a day when I remember that we’re not in Egypt in anymore.

And let me tell you: I need to be reminded of that regularly.

As we close, here’s the cool thing about having a Sabbath Day:

It’s like a cup that overflows into the other six days of the week.

As Walter Brueggemann writes, “People who keep Sabbath live all seven days differently.”⁷

Stay with me here, because this is pretty awesome.

In the Genesis 2 passage — when it says that God blessed the Sabbath day — that word blessed is the Hebrew word barak. In Genesis 1, this special word is used a couple times: when God blesses the animal kingdom and humanity, and tells them to “be fruitful and increase in number.”⁸ And then, we get to Genesis 2 where the word barak is used again.⁹

That’s right: it’s used for a day — Sabbath day.¹⁰

A Sabbath Day has a life-creating essence to it. It spills life into the other six days and we find that the rest of the week is filled with more

By taking up this six days on, one day off rhythm, we discover too that our days begin to take on sacred, life-giving rhythms of their own:

But, if you’re like the rest of us, we often get so lost in our doing that our lives aren’t actually ever being with Him at all. We tend to just buzz around, only skimming the surface of the depth of life we actually have in Him. Having a Sabbath Day has been the biggest game-changer for helping me descend into those depths. I’ve tasted and seen the fruit that I can’t not propose the idea.

Again, it’s all invitation — you don’t have to do any of this. No worries!

Either way, may you realize that His easy yoke and light burden isn’t just an apt metaphor or pretty language— may you taste and see it as the very moment-by-moment, concrete level reality of your life.

NOTES: