Can't you Just be Still? Part 3

Well, in the midst of a three-part blog series on slowing down and being still, I’ve failed. I shared in Part One that I would be pushing out a series “over the next few weeks” about this problem of busyness and the need to slow down. That was back at the beginning of October… and we’re now in April. My enemies (distractions and a full schedule) won out again! Clearly, I’m not writing this series because I’ve figured it all out. Please know that I don’t ever write from a place of mastery. I’m writing about slowing down and being still because I need it. The Lord is showing me scripture throughout His Word about sabbath rest, being still, and keeping my eyes on Him. I’m sharing all of this with you because I’m hoping there’s something that will also be helpful and encouraging to you!

Review of Parts 1 and 2

Because it’s literally been months since I started this series, “Can’t You Just Be Still?”, I think it’s important to do a recap! In Part 1, I shared my inspiration for writing about the busyness of life and looked at some statistics on the effects of a full schedule on our lives. We hashed out the decline of sit-down family dinners and looked at God’s call to “Be Still” in Psalm 46:10.

Part 2 fleshed out our adversary, Mr. Distraction. He takes so much from our personal lives and drives a wedge between the ones and The One who are most important to us. I also wrote about the challenge to be truly still with no noise in the background. For some of us, those opportunities are rare these days, and we are always creating noise to drown out the quiet. Part 2 of this series wrapped up with a focus on literally slowing down our fast pace of life and leaning into Psalm 37:7a,

“Be still and wait patiently for the Lord.”

What is the Sabbath Really About?

Now, we can get on with Part 3. In this last part of this series, we’re going to take a deep dive into the Sabbath day. As the Lord has placed this need for slowing down on my heart, He keeps bringing me back to the Sabbath. I personally feel like this is a forgotten command for most of us. How much thought do we really give to the sabbath day of rest? Take a look at what I found in a quick search about the sabbath:

The Sabbath day is first referred to in the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis 2:2 when scripture tells us God rested on the seventh day after He created the world.
Sabbath is mentioned 137 times in the King James Version- all throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word sabat, which means to stop, to cease, or to keep.
The Lesham Bible Dictionary says the Sabbath is: A day of complete rest from secular work following six days of labor- Established and modeled by God.

Last week, I read a reference to the sabbath day in Exodus 31:17 and found myself parking at the verse for a while. “It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” God rested. God was refreshed. Why did God need to rest and be refreshed? He didn’t! But it was important enough that He led by example. He modeled a rhythm of work and rest… for you and for me.

Back in October, when I started studying the Sabbath, I put out a poll on Facebook that looked like this.

Out of 100 responses, 82 answered no. Those are easy numbers that tell us 82% of my friends and family observe the Sabbath. Many of them commented that they'd like to be better at this. Those are actually better stats than what I expected. It feels like the Sabbath is something that was practiced in Little House on the Prairie days, but now it's a thing of the past. By the way, did you know they're coming out with a remake of Little House on the Prairie? Watch party, anyone??? Sorry… Squirrel! Back to the Sabbath! When I think about setting aside a whole day and being intentional about resting and worship as an act of honor to the Lord, it just doesn’t seem like this is a common practice today.

Lifeway, a large provider of Christian resources, wrote an article titled “Most Churchgoers see Sunday as Sabbath.” I was shocked at their findings: 77% of churchgoers practice a day of rest once a week. That’s a lot more people observing the Sabbath than I thought. But then I looked at what they considered “observing the Sabbath.” The image below came straight from the article.

These numbers make more sense to me now. It looks like 79% of Protestant churchgoers consider attending a religious service as observing the Sabbath. I don’t disagree, but I do think there’s more to it than that. I’ve attended church on Sunday all my life, but that doesn’t mean I have set aside the whole day as a day of rest and worship. Sometimes, Sundays can be just as stressful as work days with lots of church meetings, prepping for the work week, and more church meetings. I’m also a fan of the Sunday afternoon nap. But I can’t say I’ve adopted that practice in an attempt to honor the Lord by resting my body from work. I like my naps because I’m tired and love my cozy bed.

I can’t speak for you all, but I know for sure that I can make more of an effort to honor the Sabbath day as the Lord commanded. I’ve been chipping away at it, but it’s still a big work in progress. I’ve been trying to stay off of Social Media on Sundays (unless I’m posting something for Women’s Ministry or our Sunday School class). I’ve also been trying not to do any school work on Sundays. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail. Overall, I'm trying to be more intentional.

There’s a reason God called us to observe the Sabbath. Being in a constant state of work, stress, rushing, and striving is not good for us physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. God has called us to a rhythm of work and rest. We need the rest so we can be better workers and followers. But the Sabbath isn’t just about rest. It’s also a call to a day of worship. How would our Sunday (or whatever day you choose to Sabbath) be different if you were focused on rest and worship. Would you spend more time outside in God’s creation? Would you spend more time in the Word?

Let’s Not be Pharisees

Another thought I have on the Sabbath is this: God doesn’t want us to be rigid and legalistic about it. We can learn this from Jesus' interactions with the Pharisees. They accused Him of not observing the Sabbath when He healed and picked grain on that day that was laid aside for rest. He responded and told them it was lawful to do good (feed and heal) on the Sabbath. (Matthew 12)

God doesn’t want us to get caught up in the rules of the Sabbath, but instead to be wrapped up in the honor, rest, and worship of this sacred day.

What a blessing that God has commanded us to take a break, cease, rest, and worship one whole day a week. Have you really stopped to think about what this means? One whole day to rest! One whole day to worship! One whole day to be intentional and clear away the distractions of this world. What a day!!!!

If I were to ask what is keeping us from honoring the Sabbath, I wonder what people would say? Work? Sports? TV? Church Meetings? Extra-curricular activities our kiddos are involved in? There are so many distractions these days, it really does take a conscious, consistent effort to dedicate one whole day to Sabbath rest and worship. And it doesn’t have to be on Sunday. Maybe you can be more intentional on a Saturday to set aside the whole day. Sundays are a big work day for ministers. Many of them may choose Monday for their day of rest and worship. The Sabbath is a lot less about the rules and a lot more about the heart.

Moving the Command to Action/ Rest

I don’t know where you are personally with the command to observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, but I would venture to say that we could all be better Christ-followers, better workers, better overall humans. And certainly more obedient to the command if we would make more effort to observe the Sabbath day of rest. Will you take the challenge with me? Will you commit to making some changes to one of your days each week to rest from the work and distractions of this world, to spend more time in that day worshiping our Creator, and to honor the Lord with your time and actions on this gift of a day? I wholeheartedly believe you’ll see an impact on your relationship with God, with those around you, and with your work week. Let's move this from a command we read about to action... I mean rest.