Take Your Sabbath Rest
Mark 2:27,28 Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Sabbath day was made to help people. People were not made to be ruled by the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord of every day, even the Sabbath.”
Welcome to Saturday, the day upon which God commanded His people to rest. From sundown Friday until sundown Saturday it was called the Sabbath, or Shabbat in the Hebrew language.
That word, Shabbat, is most frequently translated as “rest”. But perhaps a more accurate translation is ‘to stop working’, the notion of an active cessation from labour on the final day of the week. And what I love is that Shabbat begins on Friday night.
I’ve always found Friday night a special time. In fact, it’s my favourite time of the week. After a hard and satisfying week’s work – work in ministry that brings me great joy and fulfillment, but hard work nevertheless – it is such a special thing to be able to step back from it, to cease my labours and to take some rest.
Now that cadence doesn’t work for everyone. I get that. But each of us needs at least a day of rest each week, preferably two.
Back in the day, the religious leaders, hypocrites that they were, attacked Jesus for allowing His disciples to pluck grain to eat out in a field on the Sabbath. But Jesus responded:
Mark 2:27,28 The Sabbath day was made to help people. People were not made to be ruled by the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord of every day, even the Sabbath.
In other words, God ordained a day to be set aside for us to cease from our labours. Why? To help us. As a blessing to us. God created a Shabbat rest for you. Don’t squander it. Choose a day each week and cease from your labours.
That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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