Focus: God's Sabbath

Text: Gen.2:3

"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."

Of all the days of the week, it is only the seventh day that God blessed and sanctified, and it was the day in which He rested from all His works.

The 7th day is God's sabbath. It is work-free day. It is a blessed day. The 7th day is more than a holiday; it is a holy day. It is a day set apart by God for us to practice rest. We rest our souls and our bodies. We reflect on who God is and on what He has done and continues to do. We meditate on God's works, God's wisdom, God's ways, God's wonders, and God's word. We appropriate God's stupendous provisions of grace and appreciate His utter goodness. We renew our strength and enliven our hopes. It is a day like no other. On the 7th day we reflect on the six past days of labor, and then refocus our energies for the days ahead.

God makes us recover in one day of rest all the strength spent in six days of work. The number six is incomplete with the number seven. A week must have seven days in it or it is incomplete. A life of work is a disaster without a life of rest. In fact, work without rest is meaningless. In rest, we look inwards and upwards; in work, we look outward and forward. 

Sabbath is designed for worship. In it we practice intentionally and intensely the presence of God, and encounter the weight and worth of God within our soul.

Adam did not start life with work; he started life with rest. As soon as he was created, God ended His work. Man was the end God had in mind when He started His creative work. God ended His work with the creation of man. Man was the crown of creation. He was indeed the goal God had in mind from day one. God took man into His rest as soon as he was created.

God blessed man after creating him. God did not wait for man to work before He blessed him. He blessed him before he could get any work done. By blessing the man God empowered him to labor productively. Moses says to the children of Israel, "But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee POWER to get wealth…" (Dt.8:18). A blessed man is an empowered man, and it takes an empowered man to be productive.

As a matter of fact, before God created the man, He first created everything else that man would need, including his food. Adam found himself in an environment where he lacked nothing whatsoever. He had food to eat before going to work.

God took the blessed man into the blessed 7th day of rest. The blessed man rested with God on the blessed 7th day. Before the man ever worked, he first rested. Isn't that strange? But as strange as it seems, that is how God designed for man to function. He has to experience rest before he can exert an ounce of energy through work. God designed for man to function from the place of rest. 

Rest is a blessing and a gift from God. It is a spiritual and mental disposition that fosters creativity, productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness. Those who rest with God also work with God. In the place of work we bring the sacredness and blessing of rest to bear.

Jesus Christ sees the multitude flocking to Him, and He says to them, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will GIVE you REST… Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall FIND rest unto your souls" (Mt.11:28,29).

Christ is the giver of rest, and it is in Him that we find rest for our souls. When we come to Him we receive His gift of rest, and when we take His yoke and learn of Him - learning of His meek spirit and gentle heart - there and then we will discover His rest for our souls.

Faith is the key that opens the door into God's rest. Practicing God's sabbath means trusting in God's word, which is His system of operation, believing in His ways of doing things, acknowledging His infinite wisdom and relying on His limitless power.

Come into God's sabbath and experience the wonders of His presence and power. Let us leave the byways of man and return to the highways of God. Spiros Zodhiates says succinctly, "Unless there is within us that which is above us, we shall soon yield to that which is about us."

Isaiah calls one of God's ways "the way of holiness." Let's practice the blessed and holy sabbath of God!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter