The holy sabbath

The holy sabbath

This morning as I hung out with Jesus, I was able to submit enough to seek what He wants to say over what I want to hear! And Jesus does not disappoint. Which is not to say he does not allow experiences that disappoint!  Do not confuse the two!

I was reading about the Israelites spending forty years in the dessert – what a long time. I’m grateful I only spent thirty years in the pre-knowing Jesus desert. Anyway, God used the daily provision of manna (grub), to teach the Israelites to trust Him as provider. He told them to obey his command to take only enough manna for each day and to trust that God would provide enough for every day thereafter.

Of course, human beings were just as wilful, doubting and disobedient back then as we are today. Subsequently, some of them stored up more than a days’ worth of manna, just in case God failed to deliver on his promise of provision. Consequently, when the non-trusting took more than a days’ worth, the excess went off and stank. God was serious about providing enough for each day and no more. He was also serious about commanding them to trust him enough to believe his promises. (He’s the same God today!)

The exception to this daily provision of manna was on a Saturday. God promised to deliver two days’ worth of food every Saturday to provide enough for Sunday too. This was done to establish God’s principle of rest via taking a weekly sabbath/rest day. And when the Israelites followed these instructions, the excess taken on Saturday did not go off. It remained fresh for Sunday. God’s words are true and he delivers on his promises. (Not just back then!)

God was showing his faithful, trustworthy character as a God who provides what we need, to sustain us for the day ahead. God still provides for our daily spiritual, physical and psychological needs, when we remember to ask him. And, like the Israelites, we often doubt him, take things into our own hands and treat him as if his ways are like ours. In other words, we sometimes apply the, ‘if you want a job doing properly’, motto to him. If only we could learn to trust him and his timing, all the time and especially in the super shit looking times. Sigh.

Anyway, I was struck by God’s command to REST in this scripture.

This is not, nor has ever been an optional extra, reserved for the indulgent. It is an essential principle for healthy, God led living. And it is considered a break of his commands to fail to apply it in practice. Gulp.

The sabbath does not have to be on a Sunday. It does have to be one day a week. While the sabbath and rest are not new concepts, they are more significant than ever in these increasingly rest-less times we live in. Which we are worse off for.

Now is the time to re-establish this Godly principle, for this exists for our own health, protection and longevity.

We neglect it to our detriment.

So, what is rest?

Rest is resisting asking anything of our minds, hearts or body’s. Stopping. Refusing to make demands on ourselves or accept demands from others. Of course, this requires a more creative response to those responsible for little people along with their never-ending demands! We all have different challenges and blessings and can seek God for how to work with these. Even then there will always be the exception where something must be done on a sabbath day. But the point is, the exception is supposed to remain the exception, not become the norm.

What might rest look like?

Rest is not necessarily a nap. While a nap is usually a restful, non-negotiable part of my day, this is a complete shutdown of the system. This certainly refreshes and reboots the system, for some of us. We are all different. And the research on the benefits of naps is conflicting at best.

But rest is something we benefit from including within our waking moments. Or rather it is a call/command and invitation to include it for our own benefit.

This requires sufficient self-knowledge to recognise and implement what is restful for us. Again, as we are all different, what works for me, may not work for you.

For me, my favourite form of rest is what I call ‘wall gazing’ time. I literally get comfortable, preferably horizontal, or at least sat with my legs up, and I gaze in to space. Or out the window at nature, or out to sea. The point for me is that I am not actively asking my mind or body to do anything. I am letting my body be still and my mind wander wherever it wants to go.

My mind typically likes to go through the events of the day or to envision dreams for the future. Or to think about the humongous gap between what us Christians say we believe about God and what our lives reveal us to really believe! And more importantly asking God to show me to how to live more like I know that he means what he says. (unlike most of us humans!)

I let my mind roam free and play spontaneously and creatively. I love indulging in wall gazing time. And I rarely prioritise/permit myself to do it!!  Feel free to judge! I don’t profess to be perfect! But I am committed to learning how to do things better. And to being taught by the most phenomenal teacher, who just happens to be available and calling us all.

As someone who needs to process on an extremely deep level due to the depth of my feelings and the breadth of my thoughts, this time is essential REST that allows unconscious processing to occur. And I need to practice more of it.

Rest could also look like laying down listening to music, meditating on the lyrics or simply feeling it.

Or it could be laying down with the cat snuggled on to me with his loud purr-o-metre reverberating through my system.

And sometimes, it is sitting in the sauna, jacuzzi or steam room. I love being warm, I love being in water and when in either of these places, with nothing to physically do, I stop and rest! This offers an embodied reminder of how wonderful it feels to be still.

Rest really is the best. It replenishes our supplies for whatever the day requires of us. It is not only a weekly requirement in the form of a sabbath day. But something we each need varying amounts of every day.

Grief reminds me that I need more rest than usual and I haven’t been having it. God’s perfect timing means I now have a good portion of it stretching out ahead of me.

The question remains … along with a reminder from a prayer partner, will I allow myself to practice this REST malarkey as much as I need it?

Perhaps, as God is the one reminding me of the importance of it, I’ll ask his help to apply it! I often observe how it feels like God answers my prayers for others more than me (so unfair!). Yet I know the ‘help me implement rest beyond and including the sabbath’ prayer, is one that he’ll be all over!

And the best time to practice this rest-fest is NOW … the sofa is calling and the window needs gazing out of …