reason why latvia is the bomb #12: sabats

latvia is where i first began to practice the spiritual discipline of sabbath regularly. it has been life changing for me! it brings focus to everything i do throughout the week. i spend a day focusing on the Lord and resting in Him. this practice has awaken a desire for constant fellowship with God that has long lay dormant in my soul. this may sound obvious and trite to some, but i had never experienced this desire consistently in my life. it had been hit and miss my whole life before i began practicing the sabbath.

throughout college i tried to practice the sabbath, but often found that i would allow my days to be filled up with busyness. i rarely made the effort to stop and spend a significant amount of time with the Lord and observe how He had worked the previous week. this brought to the surface a lot of pride and insecurity in my own heart. if i were honest, i felt that God needed me to be busy in order for Him to work through me. we can quickly see in Genesis that this is not the case and that God rested because He had worked;

"By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." (Genesis 2:2-3)

God certainly did not need to rest, but He set the example for us. i can rest because God has worked, is still at work, and will continue to work! this was a switch in my thinking that took place over the last year. it is not all up to me (praise God for that)! i rest, not because i did anything great over the past week, but because He is constantly at work! i rest because of what He accomplished through Christ. observing the sabbath has been an act of acknowledging and trusting that God is at work even while i rest. it is a day to remember what Christ did for us on the cross and how that affects us today.

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God..." (Exodus 20:8-10)

my ceasing from work is more for my soul than for my physical body and need for rest. it has become less about "ceasing doing," and more about "resting" in who God is and "observing" how He is at work. i pray that you will find time throughout your week to reflect on who God is and how He is at work throughout the world! may you find true rest in Christ. Amen!