earlier on this week i had posted about how i am currently studying and trying to understand the meaning of the sabbath and what God's intent is for this day. i have learned a lot in the lat couple of days. though my understanding of everything wasn't completely right in my previous post, i wasn't completely wrong either.
i had lunch yesterday with a friend, who also is a pastor at our church, to see what information he could give me and to ask for some guidance as to where to find more scriptures on the sabbath. check out what we came up with...
the sabbath is something that God gave to us. it is not a day that we are to take specifically to give back to the Lord. if we are truly living a Godly life we shouldn't need a specific day to honor and worship the Lord, we should be doing this on a daily basis. the day of rest was more of an act of obedience to God by the israelites. back in the day people worked 7 days a week to make ends meet. by God saying to only work 6 days a week and rest one day this could possibly leave the israelites out one whole days wages. not only are they out a days wage but everyone else around them is busy doing things to further themselves like working and getting other tasks done. taking a day to rest took a great deal of courage and faith from the israelites to believe that God was going to provide for them.
a lot of text that is written around the sabbath may seem outdated when it talks about things such as plowing the fields and working servants. however, the more i read about God's objective for the day, the more i truly believe that it is a message that people of today desperately need to hear. it's a scary concept for some that work like mad all the time.
in leviticus 25 it talks all about how every seven years was to be a year of the sabbath rest. people would rest for a whole year, that's crazy! you were not to work at all and if you did, you could be killed. you were to to live off what your land had provided you from the year before. of course there was always worry from the people that there may not be enough crops produced to sustain them but in leviticus 25:21 it says 'I will send you much blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years'.
our society is so money and success driven that sometimes i think we forget to rest, to really live. we are all about 'one upping' the guy next to us that the things that are most important like taking time to spend with your family gets pushed aside.
i encourage you to take a day to rest, slow down. don't do anything on your 'to do' list, get that stuff done another day. don't do anything that will further yourself, you can do it tomorrow. take a day to just spend with people you love and to do things that will allow you to rest and honor the true meaning of the sabbath.
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