BE STILL

Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest. Exodus 34: 21 (NIV)

It’s Monday and the blaring alarm jolts me from my sleep reminding me that another work week will soon begin. I say to myself, “How could another weekend come and go so fast? There are so many things I didn’t do, so many things I wanted to do, but there never seems to be enough time. And God says we should do all our labor and work in six days? Certainly, God was not thinking of my schedule when He gave this commandment!”

He was! And He was thinking of your schedule too!

Despite our natural affinity for a life of busyness, God knew our human need for rest. It was so important that He modeled it for us when He created the heavens and the earth. Then, He placed it among the ten commandments.

I’ve not mastered this “rest” thing, but I’ve read stories of others who have. Their sabbath may fall on a Monday, a Friday, or perhaps a Sunday. Whatever the day, they are intentional in exhaling and being still. It’s a display of their trust in God to take care of all their needs in a six-day period.

I do not envy those who have decided to be still and take a weekly sabbath; instead, I strive to be like them. God took a sabbath. He recognized a need for rest. We, too, have a need for sabbath—a time to be still and a time to be restored by our great and mighty God.

Lord, forgive us for neglecting Your command to rest. Give us the courage to trust You to do all things in six days.

© 2018 Dawn M. Wayman