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“Every
person needs to take one day away. A day
in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can
exist one day without any one of us … Each person deserves a day away in which
no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares
which will not withdraw from us …” – Maya Angelou
Leviticus … *Sigh*
There’s a part of me that always groans when I reach the point in the
year when my Bible Reading Plan points me to the pages of Leviticus. The lists of rules, sacrifices, and the
distinction between the clean and unclean – though I recognize these probably
saved the people of God from being wiped out by diseases they could not cure at
the time – they wear on my ability to focus as I read. I’m sure some/most of you can relate.
However, this last week, as I was dragging myself through my
daily reading in Leviticus, God caught my attention. Leviticus 23:32, in the Voice Translation,
says,
“This
is to be a Sabbath Day, a day of complete rest, a day when you humble and discipline yourselves …”
Perhaps my workaholic Midwestern personality is showing, but
I have always considered rest to be, well – lazy. I have always felt guilty taking time to
rest, to relax, to do something silly or seemingly less important. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not working seven
days a week right now. But a day of
rest, in my mind, has often included doing all the things I didn’t have time
for during the week – grocery shopping, homework, laundry, vacuuming, writing
letters, preparing for Bible study, and other random acts of busyness. I know that God rested on the seventh day,
but He’d just created the WHOLE UNIVERSE.
There wasn’t a single thing He had left to do, to embellish, to create
more of. He’d made everything perfectly. And let’s face it – I have never been able to
say that. There is always more that
needs to be done. Even today, on my
Saturday, my most restful day of the week, I have a to-do list of at least ten
activities that I will likely not complete, a list that, though full of more
fun kinds of activities than a normal weekday, still extends a fair amount of
pressure and stress on my time.
So, from that mindset and habit, I read in Leviticus 23:32,
where God commands us to rest for an
entire day each week ... and I gulp nervously. The Hebrew
word for “rest” in this verse comes from a root word that means “intermission,
repose, to desist from exertion … to cease, celebrate .. put away (down), (make to) rest …” Notice it said, “make to rest?” God knew on some level that we would struggle
with this, that we would have to make ourselves
take an entire day to rest, to take an intermission from life. He knew it, on some level, so clearly that He set the example, taking an entire day to rest, and set it up so that even the land would need a rest (talk to farmers - if you plant the same crop in the same field year after year after year without a rest, you will deplete the nutrients in the soil; it's also a rule in Leviticus).
But let's look again to that word intermission. Do you know what an intermission is?
It’s a break, a time out in the middle of a play or a theater
production, when the actors rest, change costumes and prepares for the second act, and the audience stretches
their legs, goes to the bathroom, thinks about all that has happened so far and
looks forward with anticipation to the conclusion of the play. That is what God calls us to on a Sabbath Day
– to take care of our bodies, to take a break, to contemplate all that has
happened in the week before, and look forward with anticipation to what God is going
to do next. It is a time to celebrate
all of God’s blessings and greatness on our behalf, and to put away or put down
the things that have caused us to stress and take our eyes off of God. It’s amazing what a day like that can do for
us. Psalm 23:1-3, in the Fenton
translation, say, “My Lord attends; - I shall not want – He lets me rest in
verdant fields, He leads me by the pleasant brooks. He brings me back, my life refreshed, to skip
with joy, and praise His name.” If we
take a day to rest, to wander the fields of life with God, to enjoy the
pleasant brooks, He will refresh our lives, bring us back to the new week with renewed joy
and strength. Zephaniah 3:17, in the
Contemporary English Version continues this theme, saying, “The Lord your God
wins victory after victory and is always with you. He celebrates and sings because of you, and
he will refresh your life with his love.” We need to let His victory and His love refresh us – at least once a week - especially when we are feeling defeated and are having a difficult time believing that He really has one the battle. Even typing these words, exploring their meanings, even
contemplating the richness of a day like that makes me really excited! I need a day like that. I need a lot
of days like that. Don’t you?
And that’s why I think God gave me this verse this
week. God wanted to remind me of the
importance of rest, and to correct my idea that working too hard or too much is
necessary. It’s really the outpouring of
pride, self-reliance, and poor self-control - not a necessity. It will take humility and discipline for
me to dedicate an entire day to resting and walking with God each week. To not touch the to-do list. To trust God that He’ll help me accomplish
all I need to. To spend time in His
presence, looking back and looking forward, and letting His Spirit bring
refreshment and peace. When I refuse to
rest, I am being prideful – saying that I don’t trust God to help me get
everything done the other days, that I think I’m above His standard (one even HE participated in), thinking that the
world cannot go on if I am not busy and stressed for one more day each week. How
arrogant. If I am refusing to take a day
of rest, I am also not being self-disciplined.
I am not pushing myself to use my time wisely the rest of the week, am
not setting a precedent and a standard of what seeking God must look like in my
life, and am not honoring Him with a tithe of my time. (One day out of seven is roughly 14% of the
week – a tithe and an offering, technically).
I obviously need to repent and seek God about how to do
this, how to truly celebrate a Sabbath rest once a week. Will you join me in seeking God about what is
best for you and your family? About how
to humble yourselves and discipline yourselves to seek God more fully in
restful refreshment? I’m praying you
will, and that God will reveal answers to us both about how to do this.
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