Busyness has become a coveted status symbol in our time. It’s now chic and trendy to be busy. Busy has become the default response to the customary “How are you doing?” question. I suspect we talk about busyness so much because it gives us some measure of existential reassurance. When we are busy, it makes us feel important and sought after. Much of our busyness, let’s be honest, is self-imposed. We don’t have to live this way. We really don’t!
One practice that distinguished God’s people in the Old Testament was Sabbath-keeping. This Sabbath provision was mandated soon after God’s people were released after four hundred years of Egyptian slavery. The only thing God’s people had known for four centuries was work. The command to enter a day of rest must have seemed to them exquisitely liberating. God never intended people to work 24/7. Even God took the seventh day off!
Sabbath keeping has two primary purposes in Scripture. One is worship. No matter how much we seek to be present to God throughout the week, our everyday pursuits have a way of causing slippage in the relationship. We gather for worship to invite God to recalibrate our bodies and souls. The other purpose in Sabbath is rest. Sabbath offers respite from the tyranny of things that consume us the other six days. If we are perpetually in motion, everything takes on exaggerated importance.
Enter God’s rest today. Center your day in God’s Word. Make this fifth century prayer from Augustine of Hippo your request to God. Take a long walk. Enjoy a leisurely meal with family or friends. Rest!