Resting in a Working World.

Welcome to Wednesday.  It’s good to be with you as we reach midweek in the Pastor’s Workshop.

Our message this week is “Blessed by Rest”.   Our primary Scripture is Genesis 2:1-3.  Our supplemental text is Exodus 20:8-11.  Our key question: “How can we put boundaries on busy-ness and claim God’s gift of Rest for our lives?

On Wednesday we look at the context of the text.  What’s the world into which the Word was and is spoken?

As I look at our Exodus text I wonder if the world of the ancients was like our own, a Busy World, a “Working World”.  Why else would you need a commandment for people to keep Sabbath and observe holy rest?

Particularly when people are struggling to survive, working every day seems essential.  Rest seems a luxury.  And yet when God speaks to Moses about how the people of God are to live in covenant with God, “Remembering the Sabbath” and “Keeping it Holy” is the fourth commandment.

Could it be that people of that day, as well as people in our day, could become consumed by their work?  In the Sabbath Commandment as proclaimed in Deuteronomy 5:15 the reason given for keeping the Sabbath is, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there…”  Could the commandment have been given because God was not interested in God’s people being “enslaved” by their daily labor? Referencing “Egypt” as a reason for the commandment leads one to think that work may have been dominating lives in some way that was debilitating.

Could it be that people of that day, as well as people of our day, undervalue the benefits of Rest?  Could it have been that the people thought they could keep on working and working and working and not eventually get worn out?  Could the command have been part of God’s plan for human “self-care”?  Genesis 2 makes it clear that even God took a break.  Even God stopped working.

Could it be that God wanted people to experience the positive benefits of becoming refreshed and replenished that come with rest?  Is that why God commanded that Sabbath be kept not only by the heads of the household, but also by the sons and daughters, manservants and maidservants, draft animals and even “the stranger in your gates”?

Or could it be that the ancient world is like our own in that they tended to forget about spending quality time with God?  Could it have been that the pressing demands of each day continually crowded out quality time of being with and reconnecting with their Lord?  Could it be that the Sabbath commandment was a way of making sure that the people set aside time to put “first things first” and prioritize God above all?

Who knows what was on the heart and mind of God as God rested on that seventh day (Genesis 2) and when God commanded that we rest on the Sabbath as well (Exodus 20).  What I do know is that in a world that can get so busy, where work can be so consuming, where rest is undervalued and where time with God is easily lost the importance of Sabbath becomes critical.   We are “Blessed by Rest”.

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank You for every gift of Your grace.  Thank You for the blessing of rest.  Thank you for the ways “Blessed Rest” helps us keep our work in perspective and our relationship with You as a priority.  Help us to obey Your command and keep Your Sabbath as a blessing for us and a glory to You.  In Jesus’ name we pray.