September 3rd

A Psalm of Sabbath

            It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep! The dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand this:  though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever, but you, O Lord, are on high forever. For your enemies, O Lord, for your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered. But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil. My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants. The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap, showing that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Psalm 92:1-15

            The subtitle on this psalm is “A song for the sabbath day.”  And yet I notice that there are no lines about resting or sleeping or taking a break or laying our labors down.  Rest is not the primary focus of the Sabbath.  It is not the end goal; it is a means of arriving at the end goal.

            The primary focus of the Sabbath is drawing near to God.  Our busyness pulls us away.  Our worry pulls us away.  Our focus upon the obstacles in our lives pulls us away.  Our self-absorption pulls us away.  Our exhaustion and coping mechanisms pull us away.  Resting on the sabbath allows us to release all those things that get in the way so that we can get to where we need to be: in the arms of Jesus.

            It is easy to idolize rest.  It is easy to think that if I could just catch up on my sleep or not always be so exhausted then life would be good and right.  It helps…it definitely helps.  It is so much easier to deal with my life now that I am not running on three hours of sleep per night.  I have more resource and I can think more clearly and I have more patience then I did back when the boy was in his 3 hours on/3 hours off sleep schedule in the early days.  But more rested does not make all the problems and challenges go away, it just sets us up to be able to deal with them better.

            Rest is the first step…it is not the finish line.  Look at the Psalm again.  The psalmist spends a couple of lines recognizing the evil in the world and how it flourishes.  He recognizes his challenges and worries.  Most of the time that is where we stop.  Worry takes over.  Fear crashes down on our heads and then we dive back into working harder in the hopes that our efforts will keep evil at bay and keep our children safe.  But the Psalmist instead turns his eyes to God and the goodness of God and the praise-worthiness of God and the power of God.  He remembers God’s promises and chooses to hope.  Hope for today.  Hope for tomorrow.  Hope for all the things that our hearts yearn for.

            Take some time to rest this week.  But after that nap or that movie or that walk or that book, make sure to take some time to pray and listen to Jesus.  Our bodies will cry that they are still tired and could use another nap/walk/movie or whatever.  We all have an enormous rest deficit that we are carrying.  Waiting to pray until we are fully rested will never happen and meeting with Jesus is where the true healing and benefit of sabbath arrive. Rest is the first step, not the finish line.

           

           

A moment to reflect:

How could you rest and pray this week?