Today's Daily Lesson is from Exodus 16 verse 25:
"Moses said, 'Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.'"
In our ever-quickening, fast-paced world, we all have more and more things to do with less and less time to do it. We often think to ourselves, "If there were only one more day in the week, I could catch up." But that's not true; it's not true because God has woven a law of diminishing returns into the fabric of every week.
God made the world and all its inhabitants in six days. Then God rested on the seventh day. God later gave us the command to rest on the seventh day also. God called that seventh day Sabbath.
Somehow we've been convinced that that commandment is a burden to bear. We "have to" rest or "have to have" a day off. Yes, we do have to rest; but that is only one side of the coin. The command to rest is not intended to be onerous; it is intended to be a gift - a day of delight. We do have to rest on the Sabbath; but we get to rest also.
The great 20th century rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said the Sabbath is "a sanctuary in time". Observing Sabbath, like going to church, is meant to be a blessing and not a burden. I think this is what Jesus was getting at when he said that man was not made to serve the Sabbath, but that the Sabbath was made to serve man.
As for those who do not observe Sabbath, but work, work, work. It is not true for them, as it was in the days of Moses and the Israelites, that they will not find bread in the field seven days a week. There are things to be accomplished and money to be made every single day of the week. But there is a deeper, spiritual truth God was trying to teach Moses and the Israelites which is still in effect today. That truth is this: we may go out into the field every day of the week and find plenty of bread to eat; but we will still hunger for more - not so much in our bellies, but in our souls.
Have a good weekend - and a good Sabbath.
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