Are you short on time? What do you do with your time? Do you feel like you are boss of your schedule, or a slave to it?
Sabbath means "stop".
The fourth instruction is about time - the freedom one day a week to "stop work" and do whatever we want. Rest is an un-heard-of concept for slaves, who rise and sleep according to someone else's schedule. But God says, "respect yourself by taking one day each week to do what you want, and leave the business of life to me."
The reason God gives here is that we get to imitate his work week - as exemplified in the creation week. Imagine that: slaves get to pattern their work-live cycle after the Creator God. What a promotion! The are no longer slaves, working at other's whim and pleasure. But they are like boss of bosses, with all the time in the world to be leisurely, every week.
But what about the work that is undone? God says, "leave that to me." Because we are not gods, whose absence make the entire universe grind to a halt. God frees us to live as the creatures we are, creatures who have a God to care for us.
So we get to go pray and play, or go lounge in God's presence and linger over a good meal with family and friends.
On a poetic note, we can read the ten instructions linearly and see that the instruction to stop ("sabbath") comes after three and before five. Or we can read the ten instruction three dimensionally where the first three and the last six flow out of four - the centre. A life that honours our humanity enough to stop revolves around the sabbath, a day where with God's help, we practice to honour God and other people. And then we let this overflow into the other six days, after which we come back to centre and start again.
We will make mistakes and fumble in our lives. But every six days we get to stop and take stock, re-centre and start again. God frees us to this rhythm and we free God to take care of us when we stop.
(The early church shifted community worship from Saturday - the Jewish Sabbath, to Sunday as a celebration of Jesus' resurrection. As modern Christians, we can Sabbath any day we want. It starts sundown, where we can say a prayer to begin the Sabbath, and it ends the following sundown. In between, decide the behaviour, habits and values that you are slave to, and stop them by adopting new behaviour, habits and values. Make time to pray, and make plans to play with people who matter to you - because you can, and you have all the time in the world. Enjoy!)
Write
Think about your faith story: how do you feel about rest? How do you rest? What replenishes your energy for life?
in your life presently, how tire do you feel? What are the obstacles that make it hard for you to stop work one day a week?
Who do you know is enslaved to time and their work?
Pray
What
is God saying to you today? What's Good News to you?
Talk to God about your freedom to rest. Thank God that he has designed your body to work six days, and he gives you all the time you need to rest every week..
Pray about your present struggles with feeling indispensable. Ask God for the help you need, the reassureance of his presence, and the courage to "stop" and let him take care of the business in your life.
Pray for your friend who is enslaved to time and work. Ask God to give you the wisdom and opportunity to come along side your friend and rest with them.
Pray for an experience of God's love, grace and mercy in the way God takes care of your life so you get to rest, and the way he meets you and restores you and relationships that matter to you on your Sabbath.