Finding Rhythm in Life and WorkSample

Prayer: Ask God to help you be open to His promptings today.

Finding Rhythm Begins With Sabbath

Before you let your thoughts run to how you spend your Sundays, let’s go back to the beginning of the story. In Genesis 1, we encounter God as a worker engaged in the work of creation. Then we see, “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done," (Genesis 2:2-3 NIV).

God established the Sabbath by setting limits on work. He rested and set a pattern for His creation. In fact, if you read the creation story carefully, you see that God created humans on the sixth day. Their first full day on earth was the Sabbath. It was a gift in the garden – not a reward for hard work but preparation to work. Sabbath is the cornerstone of a healthy rhythm of life and work because we were created to work from rest.

Take time to consider:

• What does rest look like for you?
• How are you tempted to resist it?

As God’s people continued to develop, they found themselves enslaved in Egypt. God heard their cry for freedom, and He delivered them. They were His people, the object of His affection. So, when He gave them the Ten Commandments, He was outlining how they would live out this relationship.

Sabbath was a gift to remind them that their worth was not in what they produce. Their value did not come from how many bricks they made. This still applies today. It is so tempting to equate who we are with how much we can accomplish. Practicing a weekly break from work reminds us of God’s love for us. Period.

Also, in Exodus, we see that the Sabbath was an exercise in faith. Remember their instructions in preparing for Sabbath? They were to gather enough manna the day before to carry them through Sabbath. It was a weekly reminder that they could trust God to take care of them.

Take time to consider:

• When am I tempted to draw my worth from my work?
• How can I better put my work away systematically and trust God?

Jesus also had a lot to say about the Sabbath, but it seems like he got into a lot of trouble on the Sabbath. He was a devout Jewish man who observed the Sabbath, but Jesus brought freedom and perspective to the Sabbath. In Mark 2, Jesus was accused of working on the Sabbath. He responded, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,” (Mark 2:27 NIV). We don’t live in service to it…it was created to serve us…to establish a rhythm of trust, attunement, and enjoyment of God.

Take time to consider:

• What types of activities most connect me to God?
• How can I make a weekly Sabbath part of my regular practice?

Close in Prayer