Sabbath Anyway

I have been working too much lately. I overcommitted, or assumed I was more proficient than I am. Many days in a row, all I wanted was to go to bed. I even talked to the Lord about getting rest and catching up on what I'd promised people.

So I was excited for vacation. Sabbath. I'd read, plan my next sermon series on the porch, smell the white pine, walk slower, be with my family with my whole heart.

That did not happen, and this is not a complaint. I enjoyed every second, but the rest I needed did not come.

On Thursday, I took my kids putt-putt golfing and felt strange. Not sick — strange. I did scorch the competition. That's beside the point.

By evening, the feeling was familiar. I was sick. I'll draw that curtain.

I spent the last day of vacation flat on my back in bed.

In Exodus 16, God gives His people bread in the wilderness, with a disclaimer: gather only what you need today, and trust Him for tomorrow. Some gathered extra anyway, and it rotted by morning. That was me, those weeks before vacation — gathering, holding on, not trusting there'd be enough tomorrow if I stopped today.

Later in that chapter, on the Sabbath, some went out to gather anyway and found nothing. God had already decided their rest for them.

That was my last day of vacation too.

What I am about to say is not a truth statement but something to contemplate.

I asked God for Sabbath and ignored the opportunity. Did God give me a virus or allow it to happen? I don't know.

Here is a truth statement. It's good to obey God's commands because His commands are for our good. Meaning that His commands are in harmony with how He designed us and our bodies to operate.

If we don't, nature itself can bring us back into order.

Bless you.
Pastor.