Keeping the Sabbath Day holy and experiencing God’s remedy for the weary soul
Burnout is plaguing our society today. The Society of Human Resource Management did a survey and found that 44% of those surveyed were experiencing burnout at work and 45% felt drained emotionally from their work. This is just one of the many reasons why God, as a loving Father, set up rules and commandments for our benefit and not His.
It’s the same idea when we tell our kids or nieces and nephews to go to bed on time. We know the consequences of not getting adequate rest and how important it is for their growth and learning.
God does the same for us. He knew the world we’d face and set up provisions to help us. So he tells us to take a day to rest in Him…to reset.
The problem is that I and likely many of you have no clue how to do this in today’s society. This world honors productivity and this has been ingrained in us for a while. Some people feel guilty when they’re not being productive although they’ve spent their entire week doing so.
I saw this in med school. On our “golden weekend,” friends would tell me how they felt weird for not doing anything. I quickly reminded them that they deserved rest. After all, I learned the hard way after burning out and becoming ill my first year.
I’m writing this article as a reminder to you and me that rest in the Lord is required and we are deserving of it. God gave it to us as a gift. It’s called the Sabbath Day.
What is the Sabbath Day
Keeping the Sabbath Day holy is the fourth commandment, found in Exodus 20, and its origin go back to the first book of the Bible, Genesis.
In Genesis 1, we learn about God creating the earth, sun, moon, and stars. We learn how He established order, setting a designated time for the night and another for the day. The Bible also shares how He created every living species and later, His prized masterpiece which is mankind.
He created all that we see in just six days. After completing these masterful works, Genesis 2 tells us of a sacred day that He ordained.
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
Thus, the Sabbath Day was created. It is a sacred day established by God, providing all of creation with the opportunity to rest, just as He did after creating the heavens, the earth, and every living being.
When do we observe the Sabbath?
For some, the Sabbath is observed on Saturday, the seventh day on the calendar. For others, it’s Sunday. This is why Christian-based establishments like Chic-Fil-A are not open on Sundays here in the US.
However, there is a problem for some in modern-day societies. Maybe your job requires you to work on weekends or perhaps you’re a stay-at-home parent and the work never ends. Whatever the situation, honoring the Sabbath on the seventh day becomes a dilemma.
I found myself in said dilemma and went to God for the answers. What if I can’t observe the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday? Is it ok for me to observe the Sabbath on another day? How do I observe the Sabbath on the weeks when I work 7 days straight?
In studying the next section, God gave me the answers I sought.
What did Jesus say about keeping the Sabbath Day?
I was reminded of a passage in the New Testament where Jesus healed on the Sabbath and was criticized. In Luke 13:10-17, we are told about Jesus teaching in the synagogues on the Sabbath. It then introduces us to a woman who had been afflicted by a demon of sickness for eighteen years and came to Jesus for help. In His compassion and mercy, Jesus heals her setting her free.
The synagogue’s leader criticized Him for doing this because it was done on the Sabbath. However, this was not the only time Jesus healed on the Sabbath. There are multiple other documentations in scripture of Him doing so. So was Jesus wrong for “working” on the Sabbath?” Did He violate God’s law?
The answer is He didn’t. Jesus made it clear that He came to fulfill the law, not break it.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Matthew 5:17
The synagogue leaders didn’t realize that Jesus was fulfilling God’s intentions for the Sabbath Day by providing restoration for God’s people. They didn’t understand that the rest of the Lord lies in Jesus, the Messiah.
When His disciples were hungry and picking heads of grain on the Sabbath, they were criticized. This is when Jesus identifies himself as Lord of the Sabbath in Mark 12.
So what does this mean for modern-day Christians?
As I reviewed these scriptures, I’m reminded that we are not bound by the laws of the Old Testament. Jesus is the fulfillment of those laws. Thus, I do not feel guilty for providing help to others on any day of the week as Jesus states that it’s honorable to do good on the Sabbath.
In addition, God provided me with a schedule so that I may set aside 24 hours to put down my stethoscope and close my electronic devices to focus on Him and recharge.
I have seen people with criticisms about not honoring the Sabbath on a specific day. However, this just reminds me of the burden the people of Jesus’s time felt trying to honor the Sabbath under the oppression of religious leaders who truly did not know God. It brought the following scripture to mind.
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Mark 2:27
I encourage you to pray and seek God’s guidance for your situation. However, as for me, there are days when I honor the Sabbath from sundown on Monday to sundown on Tuesday. This way I’m able to show compassion to others just as Jesus did while also setting aside time to rest and recharge with Him myself. And my soul is well with this.
How to keep the Sabbath Day holy
Always remember and trust God
Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
1 Chronicles 29:12 NIV
You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
Deuteronomy 8:17-18 NIV
Trust is the foundation of how you will be able to remember to keep the Sabbath Day holy. That’s because honoring the Sabbath is about giving up control to God. It’s a faith thing.
However, when we are worried or anxious, we tend to take matters into our own hands. This may look like working long hours and neglecting other areas of your life to achieve a certain goal in an effort to alleviate those worried and anxious feelings.
The scriptures above tell us that this is not how God wants us to pursue life. No matter how hard we work, it’s ultimately God who produces the results.
So here we have a choice. We can work to the point of burnout or we could trust God and His timing while operating in His rest and get the same, if not better results. I’ve learned to choose the latter. I hope you do too.
Prep for the Sabbath
This doesn’t have to be anything intense. You’re just preparing for your day of relaxation in God. It helps you to be intentional and thus successful.
So plan to finish any tasks that need to be done before your Sabbath rest. This can include grocery store runs, meal prepping, and work or school assignments.
If you have trouble with organization, you have the creator of order at your fingertips…God. Ask Him to prepare your heart and avoid procrastination and distractions during the week so that you are on track to honor your Sabbath.
Set your environment with intention.
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 58:13-14
If we’re not intentional about setting aside time for a change from our status quo, we run the risk of inviting back old habits. If you’ve prepped for Sabbath, you have taken the first step of being intentional.
Now it’s important to create an environment where you will be successful at observing it. One way could be to change your scenery. You could get out of the house and take a walk with God. You could meet up with friends or family for fellowship.
If you’re staying at home, lock your work items in your office or in a room so they’re not easily accessible.
The lesson here is to create an environment that focuses on your rest in the Lord.
Embrace the gift of rest in the Lord
It wasn’t all that long ago that I was struggling to find rest in my week. My husband would remind me that I wasn’t supposed to be working after I had told him I was taking a day off. The truth is, I didn’t know how to rest in the Lord. My mind was always filled with ideas as I pondered this or that when all around me was quiet.
These days, when people are working from home or starting side hustles, there is no cue for the brain that they’re leaving work. Thus, it’s hard to enter rest or family mode and we remain restless.
In addition, we must remember that self-care routines are okay, but soul care is the priority. True rest is not in our beauty and pampering routines or a vacation. Have you ever returned from vacation just as tired as when you left?
True rest is found in Jesus. It’s setting aside time to connect with God and adopt His mindset, strength, and peace. In doing so, you’ll return to your tasks with new perspectives and godly ambition allowing you to truly experience the joy of the Lord in everything that you do.
This is what the Sabbath is all about and this is how you trade your weariness and restlessness for God’s joy and peace.
Guard your heart
When we are constantly on the go, we likely aren’t spending enough time with God. This puts a vulnerability in our armor leaving us open to attacks. We must guard our hearts as we seek to observe and keep the Sabbath day holy.
We must guard against distractions that seek to compete with our time with God. Whether this be doom scrolling on social media or binge-watching a show, these actions aren’t filling our spirits and thus aren’t contributing to our rest in the Lord.
If you get the urge to work or distractions start to take over, this is a great time to go into prayer and reclaim your time with the Lord. Remember this is for your benefit.
Final thoughts on how to keep the Sabbath Day holy
In our chaotic world, God has given us the beautiful gift of rest. We must remember that His ways are very different from the ways of the world. While the world, especially one with a capitalist society, will lead you to believe that the hustle lifestyle is the only way to success, God places value on rest, trust, and obedience to Him.
As we’ve learned, it’s God who orders our steps and blesses the works of our hands. If we submit our work to Him and honor the sabbath keeping it holy, we can achieve more than we could ever dream without burnout, compromised integrity, and regret.
God’s invitation to rest in Him is upon you. I hope you will receive it.
Until next time,
-Dr. Jay
