So, I've been really looking into the Sabbath, or Shabbat, a lot lately. In my Spiritual Formations class, we talked about some verses in Isaiah 58 about fasting, but I found some verses about Sabbath which I really liked.
"If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly, then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth..."
You may see some issues with this. For example, it's obviously originally addressed to the Israelites, not Christians (since they weren't even around then). Next, you might say it doesn't apply to us, since it's in the Old Testament and Jesus has freed us from all those laws. I don't want to talk too much about those issues, but I will say a few things. I believe God's Word is living and active, and also that God is outside of time, so from there it's not much of a stretch to say God's Word addresses all of God's people throughout time, including Christians. Also, without getting into a really big argument, I'd also like to say this passage is not technically part of the Law, nor is it a law at all.
This is God talking to His people, telling them the purpose of the Sabbath. Going to Jesus' own words, man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man. This doesn't contradict the passage in Isaiah, even though God says we should keep from pleasuring ourselves "or talking idly." The Sabbath is made for man so that he can have a time to focus completely on God alone. Of course it wouldn't make sense if man was made for the Sabbath. God makes it plain in the Isaiah passage that we are supposed to use the time for focusing on Him, not ourselves. It's not a day for catching up on homework, for fasting, or even for doing nothing at all; it's a day meant for a time of closer communion with God and for seeking Him. It's also one of the most taken-for-granted aspects of our faith. I'm running out of thoughts, so I guess that's it for now. Just thought I'd share that.
Peace.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
That's really cool. In my family, we were lways just like, "Oh yeah, Sunday, our day to nap all day..." but no, it's not like that. I'm going to start paying more attention to how I use my Sunday. It never did make since how one just goes to church and that's the end of the day. It makes perfect sense to spend the WHOLE DAY focusing on God; to give that day to Him...
Oh my...the confirmation word for this comment is berple. Wow, that's so funny that I'm laughing...
Post a Comment