Hello, my name is Andy.  And I’m a workaholic.

Many of us are like that.  There is always one more thing to do, one more thing we have to fix, one more thing to get right.  There is always more.  And we work and work and work.  We are busy, busy, busy.

Do you ever feel that way?  Do you ever just feel way too busy?  Like you never rest?  Like you never have time to rest?  That you need a sabbath?  Well, God created you that way.  Listen to what we are told today in Exodus 16: 23-26:

23 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 want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.’ ” 24 So they put it aside until morning, as Moses commanded them; and it did not become foul, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is a sabbath, there will be none.”

You can make a valid point that the seventh day is a completely arbitrary thing.  Sabbath comes from the creation, where on the seventh day, God rested.  Now, let me ask you this.  Did God really need to rest?  After creating everything, was God really tired?

God rested on the Sabbath to set for us the example.  We are called to work and be faithful (yes, work is actually a good thing, always remember that) but we are called to rest from our labors as well.

But why?  Sabbath and rest seems so inefficient.  There could be so much more that we could do, there are so many things that we probably need to do.  So why does God command us to rest?

I think one of the reasons is to remind us that we really can’t do it all.  We can’t.  And you know what?  That’s ok.  We are never going to get it all done.  There is always more that needs to be accomplished, more that is left.

And that’s ok.  We can’t do it all.  We can’t.  We don’t have to.  God has already accomplished our salvation.  We have to rest in Him, not always work in ourselves.  Sabbath renews us.  Sabbath restores us.  Sabbath reminds us.

Reminds us of what?  We are not in charge.  We are not all sufficient.  We are not all powerful.  We are human.  We need rest and encouragement; we need Him.

Take Sabbath.  And I’ll admit, I’m not always good at it.  Rest in God.  Let Him renew you.  He will provide.  He will take care.  He will give you grace.

Rest in the Lord today.  Find your Sabbath.

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