Sabbath reminds us of our limitations
You have limitations. So do I.
One of the ways I’m reminded of that fact every summer is when I put up our soft-sided pool. Anyone with me? It’s a production. Every. Single. Time. There’s getting it arranged the right way on the dead patch of lawn. Remembering how the filter tubes go (you’d think after all these years I’d remember…). Then it starts to fill and I try to spread out the folds in the bottom in ICE COLD WATER.
Then it really begins. The leaks. I don’t understand where they come from or why there are new ones every year. I think I have one patched and another shows up. Once that’s under control (for now) it’s a matter of getting the tubes hooked up so that THEY don’t drip and leak… It seems never-ending!
I can’t fix every drip in my pool. I can’t make it leak-proof. I have limitations.
I also can’t work in my garden for very long in 100 degree heat. I can’t stay up until the wee hours of the morning finishing a writing project. I can’t force my brain to cooperate when I’m emotionally drained or physically exhausted.
Do you struggle against your own physical limitations? Do you forget that you aren’t a machine and can’t just keep producing all day every day? Being busy has become a badge of honor in our culture. If we aren’t busy, it feels like there’s something wrong with us. We must be lazy.
God, who does not have limitations and doesn’t get tired or worn out, created the world in 6 days and then rested. Not because He needed to, but because He wanted to show us how it’s done. He gave us the Sabbath because we needed to be reminded of our limitations. It also reminds us that He has none.
In a spiritual sense, placing our faith in Jesus fulfills the Sabbath. It’s a forever rest from trying to work our way to a right relationship with God. (Hebrews 4:9-11) Because of that, I don’t believe there is a legalistic need to follow the Sabbath rules that the Jewish people did. However, the idea of working for 6 days and resting for 1 has been around since, well, the Creation. It’s part of our design. We weren’t designed to be machines that always work no matter what. The Sabbath reminds us of that.
Perhaps taking a day off of producing (whatever that looks like for you) would also remind us of our less concrete limitations. I’m limited in my control over situations. I’m limited in my ability to change others’ actions and emotions. I find myself saying to my youngest child a lot lately, “Don’t worry about what your brother is doing or not doing. You worry about you.” What I’m trying to communicate is healthy boundaries. It’s not his job to make sure his older brother does his chores. He has plenty to do in managing himself.
I can’t fix someone else’s life or alter their emotions or choices. I can’t make everything better for those around me when they’re struggling or frustrated. I can’t change the past. I can’t constantly produce without taking a break or recharging. I can’t stop life from changing even when I don’t want it to.
Taking a weekly Sabbath rest of some sort gets us in tune with how God designed us. To rest and recharge and remember that although we have limitations, God does not. A Sabbath practice is also an opportunity to slow down and reflect on the week. What’s working? What isn’t? What issues in my life is God wanting me to cooperate with Him on changing?
Do you practice some kind of Sabbath? What does it look like for you? How can it be a freeing spiritual practice and not a legalistic religious requirement?