Remember the Sabbath Day
Lenten Devotional Series Day 13. Today’s meditation is on the fourth commandment, Exodus 20:8-11.
Recently our family had epiphany of sorts. We were falling prey—regularly—to an all too-common problem: saying yes to too many good things. Our margins had disappeared, such that we were hardly getting enough sleep at night, let alone time for spiritual disciplines and family life. Running hard, we were also running dry without a spiritual wellspring for life and ministry.
That particular day, an unanticipated funeral in the midst of a busy work week came on the heels of two back-to-back trips. After six hours in the car there and back, way too much coffee, and—for Josh—blackberrying until his thumbs were raw, we both realized something was amiss.
That was when God, in his kindness, led us to remember the Sabbath day. Earlier in our marriage, we’d shared a house with a family who practiced a weekly ritual of “no visitors, no social engagements” from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, in spite of almost weekly “exceptions luring.” We remembered how it blessed them and us alike. We joined them several times, to light Advent candles or read the Bible together, but we never adopted this form of Sabbath-keeping as our own.
To be honest, we hadn’t given much thought to Sabbath-keeping in this way. Both of us had been raised in families whose Sabbath practices were associated mostly with Sunday worship—and occasionally with a family lunch or extended dinner with church friends. But clearly we needed something more.
The fourth commandment begins with the instruction to Remember the Sabbath day, and in so doing to look to our Creator’s own example. After a full six days of work, God rested from his wide-ranging labors on the seventh day, reflecting on what he had made … “and he saw that it was good.” God established a rhythm of work and rest/reflection as a model for us to follow. As vice-regents over God’s creation, we bear his image in our labors throughout the week, serving as stewards and ambassadors of the Creator in our varied vocations. If we choose not to follow God’s example by laboring on without a Sabbath, we blur his image in us. And while worship and fellowship are essential to the Christian life, as God’s image bearers, we remember the Sabbath day by ceasing our labors, reflecting on what God has done in our midst during the past week, and resting in the hands of his loving and providential care.
Tomorrow we’ll share more of what God has taught us regarding Sabbath-keeping. Today in prayer, begin with the Collect of the Day (below). Then talk with the Lord about the spaces of work and rest in your life. Does your life reveal a rhythm of labor and reflection according to God’s design? Or is there need for a course correction? Ask for the Lord’s forgiveness for any unfaithfulness in this area, and for help to follow him in both work and rest. Finish with the Lord’s Prayer.
The Collect of the Day. Almighty God, you see that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: guard us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Josh Good is a Consultant for ICF International, where he directs a research study on faith-based organizations that partner with the federal government. Becca Good leads the Women’s Care Team at the Church of the Resurrection and is an InterVarsity chaplain to DC area graduate students. They live on Capitol Hill with their son.