Exodus 20:10-11

 …the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God (Exodus 20:10 NRS)

One of the most difficult yet important lessons that marathon training has taught me over the years is the importance of rest. When logging training miles to prepare for the 26.2 mile race, rest seems counter-intuitive. More is better, right? On the contrary. What I’ve learned through reading and experience is that rest allows my body to not only recover but to actually get stronger. It’s just as important to not do something as it is to do something. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. There’s always that voice, that pressure, that sense of obligation to do something.

God’s insistence that we observe sabbath rest is for our own health and well-being. No one of us can operate 24/7 no matter how hard we try. Sabbath requires us to create intentional space and time free from life’s distractions, pressures, obligations, and stresses. God uses that space to feed and refresh us. Today at sundown, observant Jews will begin Sabbath (or Shabbat, as it is called in Hebrew). The root meaning of Shabbat is to cease, to end, or to rest. This sacred time is not viewed as a restrictive obligation, but rather as a holy opportunity to encounter and be renewed by God. As the sun sets, candles are lit, prayers are prayed, and a meal is shared. Sabbath rest will be observed until tomorrow evening. Christians observe sabbath, so to speak, on Sunday, the day of Jesus' resurrection. As we gather for worship, the reading of scripture, a sacred meal, we carve out intentional space for an encounter with God.

How intentional are you about observing sabbath time? If not, what do you need to do to create it? How might you be renewed by this practice in a 24/7 world? 

Exodus 20:10-11 NRSV

 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work-- you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.
 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.