If you were to talk to my dad about my childhood, you would hear a number of different stories. Some stories about things that I did, places I went or people I met. You would most definitely hear stories that would embarrass me. One story that my dad loves to tell and even has video proof of, is a story about one Christmas where I was over the top excited about a gift I got. I do not remember the gift, all I remember, thanks to the memory living on in infamy because of a video, is the excitement I had. I won’t go on to describe the video but I will let you know that my reaction was a bit too much looking back. Getting a gift is awesome, getting a gift that you are super excited about is even better! That one Christmas when I was a kid my parents hit the mark exactly. It makes me think about how often we get gifts that are hits and how some are flops. Thankfully when it comes to God’s gifts they are all hits, none of them are flops. The bible is a record of God’s amazing gifts to humanity. Sadly it's also the record of how we have lost, misunderstood, or changed His gifts. But it’s not too late to rediscover, understand, and use His gifts the way He intended. Let’s take a look at the very first gift He gave us and see if we can rediscover its beauty. 

Rediscover

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.  Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:2,3 

 So what is the first gift God gave all of humanity? If you open your bible you will find a series of days that start off the creation of this earth. During it God made light, He made land and fish and birds and the animals, He made plants and He made people. He filled the entire world up in 6 days. On the 7th day of the creation week God made something special. He had been filling the world up each day. On the last day He did the same but instead of creating something new He decided to fill the 7th day with His presence. The bible in Genesis 2:3 says that God “blessed the seventh day and made it holy”. He created a space for rest and decided then and there that this day was to be different. If we follow the poetic pattern of each day with God filling up His creation we can see that this day was special because God decided to personally be the reason that the seventh day was special. 

Understanding

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Exodus 20:8

So what does this holy and blessed day of rest mean for us? God explained to His people hundreds of years later, but only a few chapters later in the bible. He told them the Sabbath day is for resting from all our labors. God tells the Children of Israel to “remember” the day. It’s almost as if they had forgotten what it was like to rest. The people that received the 10 commandments had been slaves for generations. Their entire worth and purpose for existing was to work. If anyone needed a reminder to rest it was them. God didn’t just make this command for them though. The command goes on to tell them to let everyone in their house rest, their animals, their servants, even the foreigner who lives in their towns should rest! What an amazing command. What would it be like if we actually rested like this? Can we pair our understanding of the Sabbath being about God’s presence and this idea of rest? I think that’s exactly what God intended for us! 

The Way He Intended

Then He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Mark 2:27

When God gave the gift of the Sabbath He intended for us to rest with Him in it. Not for us to create a Sabbath that is a burden. In Mark 2 Jesus is walking through a field with his disciples and some Pharisees. The disciples started to eat grain from the field as they walked. The Pharisees saw this as breaking the Sabbath because they were reaping the grain and that is work. They remembered that God said to not work on the Sabbath and in their eyes this is work. Jesus then tells them that the Sabbath was made for man and not the other way around. Does this mean we can work on the Sabbath? No! This means that we should not make the Sabbath a burden, but instead should be using it for its intended purpose, being with God. In my reading the disciples were doing exactly what they were supposed to do, they were with Jesus. 

This gift of the Sabbath is so much deeper than what I have outlined in this short blog. Its meaning is beautiful and the discovery of how the Sabbath can be a sanctuary in time for us to meet with God, is one of the greatest beauties of the Bible. If you are looking for how to spend more time with God why not try out the day that He specifically asked for? Why not do exactly what He asked us to do? If you have lost the meaning of the Sabbath it’s never too late to rediscover, understand, and have a Sabbath the way God intended.