Ringtail Cats and Rocking Chairs - Pt 2

On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” (Exodus 16:22-26 ESV).

The first step in developing rest in our lives is to take one day as a “Sabbath.” Taking a weekly day of rest is a sign that we desire God. Taking one day a week to cease our strivings and focus on God shouts out that we desire God above status, financial reward, promotion in the workplace, achievement, and all other things that would distract us from the one we love. Not taking time with someone we love when given the chance is a sure sign of diminished desire to be with them, to reflect together on the good times spent together in the past, and to consider what the future holds. When we specifically and intentionally set a day a week aside to focus on the Lord, as the old covenant people of God were commanded to do as they journeyed (vv. 23, 25), we signal to the world that our hearts belong to him. Setting aside this day is a means of treasuring both rest and worship. The journey from Egypt to the Promised Land was not an easy one. It is no wonder that God needed to provide food for them as they trekked across the desert. He decided to do that through the means of this miraculous appearance of manna each morning. The Bible describes it as having the appearance of bdellium, adding that the Israelites ground it and pounded it into cakes, which were then baked, resulting in something that tasted like cakes baked with oil; and, raw manna tasted like wafers that had been made with honey. However, it didn’t just drop on to their plates. They were responsible to gather it each day, except on the Sabbath. They were instructed to get twice as needed on the day before to allow this “day of rest” from their work of gathering food. It was a clear example of the difference between work and labor. Christianity often feels like more stuff to do. But according to Jesus, the core of the Christian experience is rest. Dallas Willard says that most of us jump into the busy part of Christianity—serving our neighbors, being active in the church, keeping up with spiritual disciplines—but we skip the “rest” part, which is crucial to being able to accomplish any of the other stuff. Those most mature in Jesus are not those working hardest for him but those resting best in him. The first step is to actually schedule a day for nothing but rest. This rest will look different for each of us. What ought to be the same is that it is the cessation of striving for more. It is the “pause” in our week that allows us to renew our bodies and minds for the continued journey.