stop AND rest

Opening Prayer: My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.  (Psalm 62:1-2, NIV)

Scripture: Exodus 20:8

Journal: How do you practice Sabbath these days?  Why?  Is it restoring and life-giving or oppressive and legalistic?  How do you stop each week?  Do you?  How do you rest?  How are you stopping, but not yet resting?  What does it mean to truly rest in God alone?  Will you?  What do you think God’s intention was behind this commandment?

Reflection: It is easy, at times, to abide by the letter of the law and completely miss its intent.  Nowhere is this more evident than in the practice of Sabbath.  I don’t know about you, but for years and years I was bombarded with don’ts and shoulds that took all of the life and joy right out of the practice.  And, quite honestly, still can to this day if I let it.  I do not think that was God’s intent.

     The Hebrew word for Sabbath is shabath, which literally means “to stop.”  In six days God created the heavens and the earth, we are told in Genesis 2, and then he stopped.  On the seventh day he stopped from his work of creating.  Thus, he set aside the seventh day and made it holy—a holy day—that we should stop from our work as well.  

     But he doesn’t tell us to stop just for the sake of stopping, it is meant to be something much more than that.  It is meant to be a practice that is renewing and restoring and life-giving.  That is why Exodus 20 is so helpful.  In Exodus 20, God tells us that the intent of stopping (shabath) is so that we might rest (nuwach).  God is letting us know that stopping, in and of itself, is not enough.  We stop in order to rest.  

     The word nuwach (which is used in Exodus 20:8, but not in Genesis 2:2) means to settle in, or to take up residence within.  The whole point of stopping is so that we might rest.  We must stop and rest.  We stop, and then we settle into that stopping.  We take up residence in the space and time—and life—it offers.  It is a warm, rich, inviting, recreating space that we are invited into.  But in order to receive the benefit, we must enter into it.  It is possible to shabath and still miss the point, unless we also nuwach.  I guess God knew we would get legalistic and petty about the stopping part and miss the point of it altogether—the resting.  And he would never want us to miss that, it’s the best part.  

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.  My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.  Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. (Psalm 62:5-8)