All the days of the earth,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
and day and night
shall not cease…
Six days you may labor, but on the seventh day, you shall rest; even during the seasons of plowing and harvesting, you must rest.
~Genesis 8:22; Exodus 34:21
Consider
To everything, there is a season, the ancient sage writes, a time to plant and a time to uproot the plant. (Ecclesiastes 3:1,2) God has set in his divine order the perennial seasons, but there’s a caveat to that rhythm that our ancestors who lived close to the land understood–the sabbath rest, a fifth season of sorts. A season on which the other seasons rely. The Torah required a sabbath rest for the land–six years they worked the land, on the 7th year, the ground rested, laying fallow … “you must rest.” Just as the fallowing law’s purpose was to restore soil fertility, God ordained the seventh day every week as a day of rest.
This is worth our consideration as we work the land of our existence; there needs to be a quieting time that ushers us into the stillness of God’s grace, a time of anticipation, of awaiting the new mercies He showers us every morning. It’s God’s prescriptive wisdom for a life well-lived; it is only when we cease our striving that His sacred instruction bears the fruit of sabbath rest. It’s what is necessary for what the psalmist was getting at when he said, “The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.” (Psalm 85:12)
This may surprise you, but most people in the United States do not rest on the Sabbath, let alone join others to worship the Lord! We have forgotten what our ancestors innately knew across the ages; unless their ground lay fallow on a day in the week, fertility couldn’t be restored in the soil of their souls. It is one of the most challenging practices for postmoderns.
Pray
Lord, restore my soul, guide me along the right paths to receive your rest, and take measures to protect the Sabbath from interruptions.
Restore unto me the gladness of your salvation; uphold me with a willing spirit to allow you control of my time.
I choose to cease to be enslaved to the tyranny of the urgent!
Help me to desire to dwell with You and take refreshment from Your Word to me.
Guard me against wasting the Sabbath on this world’s “stupid and unintelligent” distractions lest I become wearied by the senselessness in temporal things.
Spirit of the Lord, rest upon me and give me a spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel and strength, knowledge and reverence for You.
~Amen
(Adapted Psalm 23:3; Psalm 51:4, 80:20, 132:14; Ben Sira 22:13; Isaiah 11:12)
The Maiden Warrior 