I recently had an enriching encounter with an old lady who was sat opposite me on the train. The lady was reading a Christian book that I recognised and I was torn between starting a conversation with her and ticking off some of my to-do list. In the end I decided to do the former and I’m glad I did.
A brief conversation with the lady left me with so many gems. But I think the most striking lesson was to slow it down – “don’t overdo it”, she said. The lady was speaking from experience as she had to leave her job after falling ill due to stress. She said if she could go back, she would have done things differently and chosen a job that she was better suited to.
The Sabbath is for your benefit
Of course, we all have ambitions and dreams – things we want to accomplish on this side of eternity. But as urgent as life is, this does not mean we must neglect rest and our overall wellbeing.
In Genesis 2, God sets the precedent for rest. After allocating six days to create the universe, He declared the seventh day as ‘holy’ (Genesis 2:3) – set apart from all the other days. It would be a day of rest – the sabbath day. Of course, this rest was not for God’s benefit as He needs no rest (Psalms 121:4), but it is for our benefit as He created the human body to require rest.
On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.
Genesis 2:2-3 (NLT)
The Sabbath is a day where we can slow it down and be more attentive to our needs – spiritual, physical and mental. It is also a time where we can be more attentive to the needs of others, which Jesus demonstrated by healing the sick on the Sabbath even though it was frowned upon by the religious leaders (Luke 13:14).
As much as some of us would like to race through our to-do list and as much as society praises the “hustle”, this is not the will of God for humanity. Some of us have decided (including me at one point), that the sabbath day is no longer relevant because well, it’s all the way back in Genesis and “that’s the old covenant”. However, the Sabbath still stands and Jesus clarifies its purpose in the New Testament, stating that ‘The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath’ (Mark 2:27). The Sabbath is for your benefit.
For Jesus, productivity and rest were not at odds with each other
Despite the demands being placed on Jesus during the 3 years of His public ministry, Jesus was never found rushing around. Jesus walked. Jesus slept. Jesus ‘often withdrew to lonely places and prayed’ (Luke 5:16). These various practices allowed Jesus to live in a constant state of rest even whilst he ‘went around doing good’ (Acts 10:38). For Jesus, productivity and rest were not at odds with each other. His ability to rest allowed Him to be more effective in His ministry.
God has given us a command to rest; it’s not a suggestion. Yet so many of us treat it as the latter and to our detriment. To obey the command to rest is to invite God to do the rest. The time you think you’re losing when you decide to pray, serve others or give your body the sleep it requires, is time you give to God to work on your behalf. This may not make sense to the human logic but it is a divine truth and it works for those who believe in it.
It really is senseless to work so hard from early morning till late at night, toiling to make a living for fear of not having enough. God can provide for his devoted lovers even while they sleep!
Psalms 127:2 (TPT)
We need to recognise the moments we have each day to slow it down
I remember when I first decided to “try out” the Sabbath in faith and well, I haven’t looked back. There are times when human logic tries to come in and convince me that I need the extra day of work, but when I look back it always turns out that I never truly needed it. To observe the Sabbath is to show God that I trust Him. To observe the Sabbath is to acknowledge that the success of my goals is not all up to me. To observe the Sabbath is to remind myself that before I am anything else I am a child of God.
Dedicating a day to rest is paramount but my encounter with the lady on the train showed me that we need to recognise the moments we have each day to slow it down. There are so many gems we miss each day because we are in a hurried state of mind. But I’ve learnt that the to-do list will always be there and there are opportunities for meaningful human interactions that we may never get again.
So, slow it down.
Bible verses on the blessing of observing the Sabbath day
Isaiah 58:13-14 (NLT): “Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the LORD’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly. Then the LORD will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the LORD, have spoken!”
Leviticus 25:18-22 (NLT): “If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my regulations. Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it. But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’ Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years. When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year
Further reading
Redefining Success 
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