Sabbath Rest: Draw Near

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The gift of Sabbath rest for God’s people is found in remembering, ceasing, and resting. As James 4:8 says, “Draw near.”

This guest post is part of a series on Sabbath Rest for Small Church Ministry LLC, where we help women create joy & success in small church ministry. Any opinions expressed within this blog post are those of the author and not necessarily held by Small Church Ministry.

Sabbath Rest: Is It Just A Memory?

The Hush That Fell

I still remember the hush that fell over my grandparents’ house and farm on the seventh day of the week, after lunch. The food in its “take-up dishes” was covered with a white tablecloth for an easy supper. It is always summer when I think about this memory. Hot, still air. Bees buzzing somewhere in the background. “You children play quiet, now.”

Sabbath rest has fallen on the farm.

During my childhood, I remember the same kind of hush falling over my mother’s household during the weekly sabbath. Lunch leftovers were refrigerated for after Sunday night service. Sunday paper was strewn around the living room. Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom in the background. Adults napping. “You children play quietly.”

Sabbath rest had fallen in the country.

Sabbath Memories

Whatever the memory of Sunday or the Sabbath day that comes to mind for me, without a doubt, it always involves church, food, and naps (which I did not appreciate as a child). It also involves laughter and family. Then, quiet.

What it never includes is any form of hard work. My grandparents did only what was absolutely necessary –– milking the cow, for instance, and feeding the chickens. None of your own work was to be done. No cooking except what could not be done on Saturday; nothing. Children playing loudly also seemed to be included in the definition of work.

In my mother’s household, cooking a big lunch was allowable and good work, while sewing and cleaning were not. Neither was homework. Homework was work to be done on Saturday early if you wanted to do anything else.

Then Sunday Became A Day Of Doing

As I grew older, Sunday became a day to go and do after church. Swimming, then hanging out, teenage things. Later, it was a day I ignored altogether, along with God (as if I really could).

Returning to my walk with Jesus Christ and to church attendance, there have been seasons where Sunday Sabbath resembled those childhood ones … mostly physical rest resulting in napping after church exhaustion.

But let’s face it, Sunday doesn’t often feel like true rest if you …

• serve in any capacity
• are on a church staff or are a church leader
• have small children or even teens
• ____________________ (Insert your own “ifs” here!)

Those if’s make Sunday often feel and also look a lot like work.

The Law Was Supposed To Be About Remembering

As a matter of fact, The Old Testament regarding Sabbath observance commanded in Exodus 20 and the one the Pharisees came up with in the New Testament (the one my grandparents’ Sabbath more closely resembled with all its “don’ts”), was really supposed to be about remembering God’s presence in a purposeful way.

The Freedom Key Of Sabbath Rest

But the Sabbath rules were and are only part of the Sabbath rest God intended. Hebrews gives us the promise and the fulfillment of that beginning in chapter 4, but the key to the gift of this spiritual rest is found in James 4:8.

• Draw Near

Yep, draw near. That’s it.

Presently, that’s what I have found –– the freedom key. Turning the key though looks a bit different for everyone I think. Especially in the different stages of life.

One writer here described it as finding Sabbath in the “bits and pieces” of life. For me, amidst my own ways, it means not going over my to-do list while watering flowers early in the morning. Especially in the busy seasons, I choose to, instead, listen: to the water, to the birds, to His voice in the quiet. Drawing near is also something to be found in longer stretches of time.

Turning that key in the busyness of life is harder still.

Turning The Key For Me

Intentional Scheduling/Date Day With Jesus

• Picking a day for real rest and putting it on the calendar
• Forwarding my phone calls and screening them
• Emergencies are if someone is bleeding or dying

What Says Ultimate Rest To Me

• A walk
• A nap
• The beach
• A park

Ceasing

• The whirlwind of thinking and doing

Prayer/Talking

• Telling Him all about everything

Listening

• For God’s voice to me. This is done through God’s word or music or stillness

Sabbath is …

• Remembering who God is, what He has done, and also that He loves me and desires my attention.
• Ceasing from work, worry, fretting, and hurry-scurrying around.
• Resting not just my body, but my mind as well.

Overall, I have found Sabbath rest in moments, hours, and even days. And in the organized “working” Sabbath we call Sunday, we have the perfect opportunity of “drawing near to God” in a personal and collective time of worship and focusing on God.

In Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, I think we find every day can contain Sabbath rest in different ways.

Read More

The Journey To The Address Of Rest

Sabbath Rest: Because God Cares For You