Sabbath. Sabbath is a term I had heard in my life growing up in the church, but glazed over as something people used to do. I didn’t really think it applied to me. “An entire day of rest? I don’t have time for that!”, is what I used to think. I had things to do, people to see, and obligations to carry out. I didn’t feel like I needed rest, I felt like I could keep doing all the things I needed to do and I’d be fine. But there’s a lot of humility that comes with sabbath. And a lot of times, our pride tries to tell us otherwise.
Ezekiel 20:19 – “I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules, and keep my Sabbaths holy that they may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.”
Here on the World Race, we practice sabbath once a week. We’ve had quite a few sabbaths now and I think I’m finally beginning to understand how to find rest. But trust me, my first few sabbaths were uncomfortable and exhausting. I realized I had no clue how to rest for an entire day, nor did I want to. I’m an efficiency kind of gal. So not getting my “to do” list of things done on our day off of ministry felt odd. But as I have continued to press into this uncomfortable feeling of resting, the Lord has taught me some pretty sweet things about sabbath days.
After my first few unrestful sabbaths, my team leader, Aaron, encouraged me to ask the Lord if I should be spending my sabbaths alone. And you could say I wasn’t ecstatic with the answer…
I like people. I like adventure. I like hanging out with friends. I like seeing new places and exploring new cities. I don’t like being lonely. I don’t like FOMO. I don’t like being “boring”. And I definitely don’t like saying “no”.
These were all real struggles I found myself wrestling with as I sat inside of our house in Romania a few weeks ago while the majority of my squad was out exploring and adventuring. This is still what I find myself wrestling with today as I’m sitting in a restaurant I’ve been to 10+ times as most of my squad is exploring a new town an hour away. I’m across the world in the beautiful country of Albania, not doing anything particularly new or exciting. But realizing that that’s what God’s calling me to do. He’s teaching me something pretty neat about being alone, sacrificing efficiency and adventure, and finding contentment, rest and comfort in Him and Him alone.
As I give up my worldly wants and desires, God has met me. And its been pretty sweet to see Him fill me with a new sense of wholeness despite my natural worry to feel uncomfortable or lonely in this place of obedience.
As I’m learning more about what sabbath is and why God calls us to rest, I’m realizing how much this day is a reminder that we don’t have to strive or earn His love. When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He said “it is done”. God knows how unnatural it feels for us to not do anything. We like to do things. We like to be accomplish things. We like to earn things. But that’s not the nature of God. God’s nature with us is where we are the recipients, not the doers.
