Embracing Sabbath and Eliminating Hurry

Finding Rest in God's Transformative Rhythm

On one occasion John Ortberg reached out to Dallas Willard to get some advice. He had just started at a new mega-church and the demands of life were weighing him down. He was experiencing the same pressures I’ve written about previously.

Ortberg recalls sharing these pressures with Willard in the hopes that Willard would offer some type of productivity hack. Instead Willard remained quiet for some time. Then he said:

You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.

John wrote that down and waited for the next nugget of spiritual wisdom, perhaps more practical this time. But that was all he would get; in fact, though he didn’t realize it, it was all he needed to hear.

Elsewhere Willard would say that hurry is, “the great enemy of spiritual life.” When we are caught up in a constant state of hurry, we operate from a place of scarcity and fear, rather than embracing the abundance and love of God that sustains us. Consider the last time you were in a hurry—did it not lead to impatience, forgetfulness, and a lack of presence? Regrettably, our culture thrives on hurry, making it challenging to be fully present and engaged. This is why the practice of Sabbath-keeping has become more crucial than ever before.

In both the Exodus and Deuteronomy versions of the Ten Commandments, God instructs His people to keep the Sabbath holy. Exodus emphasizes imitating God's rest after His creative work, while Deuteronomy serves as a reminder of the oppressive labor experienced during their time in Egypt. We find ourselves in need of remembering both. Because many are caught up in the relentless pursuit of work, leaving us exhausted and our souls withering under the weight of it all, we need to remember that God rested from his work.

This is especially true of Christian leaders. The same way God modeled Sabbath keeping to us, Christian leaders must model it, not just preach (or write!) about it, to others.

I’m always struck by Eugene Peterson’s insightful observation on the Sabbath regarding pastors. In Working the Angles, he wrote:

“Not many of us preach vigorously on the seventh commandment and then pursue lives of active adultery. Not many of us preach eloquently on the second commandment and then moonlight by selling plastic fertility goddesses in the narthex. But we conscientiously catechize our people on the fifth commandment and without a blush flaunt our workaholic sabbath-breaking as evidence of an extraordinary piety.”

It is really evidence of our lack of trust in God.

The solution is to obey the commandment. And it is important to remember that it is a command, not a suggestion.

God knows of our fearful proclivity to keep going, keep working, keep pushing, keep grinding; therefore he commands us to take our eyes off of the work and pay attention to his work. That’s what it means to observe the Sabbath; it is a way of paying attention to God and what he has done.

How?

I don’t want to be too prescriptive, because the Bible isn’t, but we do get an example from the original sabbath keeper himself. After creating everything, God enjoyed it. He paid attention to it and saw that it was really good. That is what it means for us to keep the Sabbath holy. It is not merely, “taking a day off.” Days off are good, but they are not necessarily Sabbath. A day off for many people is just another way of paying attention to work. This is what you see in the heavy emphasis our culture places on the weekend.

“You’ve worked all week, now party all weekend, because Monday—work—is coming.” This isn’t bad, but it’s not Sabbath. For Sabbath to be Sabbath, observation, attentiveness, to God and his work is required.

Now don’t read this and begin thinking of a bible study session! Rather, think of paying attention to God in some way. Some people observe Sabbath by hiking and enjoying God’s creation, others enjoy the family God created and gave them. There are many ways to observe the Sabbath; they can be playful, prayerful, and a combination of both.

Why attentiveness to God and his work? Because we are formed by what we pay attention to.

This is true for everyone. Think of John 3:16, the most famous verse in the Bible. Did you ever think of how God came to love the world so much? The answer is in Genesis 1:31, “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” In other words, he paid attention to it, and he loved it.

God commands us to place our attention on him and his work one day of the week so that we can be deeply formed through that attentiveness. We will discover three things about him that are conveyed beautifully in this story of Julian of Norwich. She was believed to be on her death bed, and while waiting to die she began paying attention to the crucifix on her wall, when suddenly she had a vision.

[He] showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazel nut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, 'What may this be?' And it was answered generally thus, 'It is all that is made.' I marveled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen to nothing for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God.

In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second that God loves it. And the third, that God keeps it.

When we observe Sabbath we will discover these three properties: God creates, God loves, God keeps. And since God creates, loves, and keeps, we are free to live and work from a place of rest. Rest in the fact that we are God’s creation, safe because of his love, and kept by his eternal will for us. But not just one day a week, every day!

In Jesus’s teaching we find a shift from the strict Sabbath adherence of his day to an invitation to receive rest and refreshment in him daily. Jesus invites us to cast our burdens upon Him and discover true rest for our souls (Matthew 11:28-30) daily. This means we are invited to pay attention to what Christ is doing in the midst of all that we are doing. Therefore, while Sabbath observance remains valuable, and should be practiced weekly, our ultimate rest is found in Jesus, the fulfillment of the Sabbath.

Let us find solace and freedom in the knowledge that we are God's cherished creation, held securely by His love, and sustained by His eternal will. As we rest and find our ultimate rest in Jesus, the fulfillment of the Sabbath, may our lives be a testament to the transformative power of living in God's rest and love every day.

May God's blessings be upon you as you embark on this journey of Sabbath and rest.