The Gift of Rest

“I want to do it right,” she says.

She is living in a dorm room half a world away. It’s nearing midnight so she’s whispering to keep from waking her roommate.

She is calling the person she trusts to give her sound biblical answers, her grandfather. “I want to spend the day with God, but I don’t know what to do with my time. And I want to do it right.”

During her college semester abroad, her mentor in the mission field encouraged her and her fellow students to commit to a Sabbath—a day of rest and focus on God.

But what exactly does that mean?

The first mention of “Sabbath” is in Exodus 16:23: God had been providing manna (bread) from heaven. The Israelites would wake each morning to find manna covering the ground. They gathered it and baked or boiled it.

Based on His own example of Creation, working six days and resting on the seventh, “He told them, ‘This is what the Lord commanded: Tomorrow will be a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath day set apart for the Lord. So bake or boil as much as you want today, and set aside what is left for tomorrow.’” Verse 29 adds another layer: “They must realize that the Sabbath is the Lord’s gift to you.”

A day of rest set apart for God is a gift to us. Do I treat it as a gift or as an impossible task to check off my spiritual to-do list?

In Matthew 12, we find Jesus walking with His disciples on the Sabbath. Jesus was not bothered in the least that they were breaking off heads of grain to curb their hunger—“harvesting” (working), according to the Pharisees, who were very bothered by their behavior. In verse 13, Jesus even healed a man on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were definitely bothered by this.

As the same story is told in Mark 2, Jesus confirms that the Sabbath is a gift to us: “Then Jesus said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!’”

So, the Sabbath is a day of rest set apart for God—a gift to us to meet our needs.

Each follower of Christ must answer the question for themselves: What exactly does a Sabbath look like? 

For me, it means spending time with God leisurely. I have committed to spending time with God every day, but appointments and responsibilities hang over me, limiting my time with Him. So, a day set apart for God means time to reflect on the past week—to seek forgiveness and repent of things I’ve glossed over, to pray for people I’ve been too distracted to think of, to see the ways God has answered prayers though I was too busy to notice.

Sabbath also means intentionally putting aside work—from emails and notifications to dishes and cooking. This slower rhythm with fewer responsibilities provides the extra time to focus on relationships: a date with my husband, a game or movie with my son, a phone call with a loved one.

What does a Sabbath look like for you? Enoch walked with God. David wrote songs and danced for God. Elijah called down fire and ran for God. Martha served God. A woman washed Jesus’ feet with her hair. Throughout the Bible, God’s people interacted with Him in vastly different ways.

Remember, a Sabbath is a day of rest set apart for God. It is a gift to us from God to meet our needs.

So, what exactly will a Sabbath look like for you? It may be different every time. It’s a question worth exploring with God.

Side Note: Please pray for my niece, as she has a little over a month left serving in the Balkans. We are so proud of her!