The Gift of Sabbath

NIV - Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Our days are filled with heavy toil

With pursuit of wealth and need

A hustle-bustle, headlong rush

From every waking until we sleep

Racing from the cradle to the grave

Time sliced up in years and months

Portioned out in weeks and days

Given up in hours and minutes

Seconds ticking to the final end

Ever faster in our passing lives

Seven are our days apportioned

Work and home and play and toil

You and me and them and we

Time divided, sliced… doled out

In years that stretch before us

Six days in work and help give purpose

Divine connection to a demanding God

But in the day of rest… that gift of Sabbath

In the stop and rest… the heart of quiet

We hear the heart of our loving God

The still small voice that tells us

“Come to me, all you who are weary

and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

The voice speaks to us in the stillness

When we stop and rest, embracing Sabbath

“By the seventh day God had finished 

[all] the work He had been doing; 

so on the seventh day He rested 

from all his work. And God blessed 

the seventh day and made it holy, 

because on it He rested 

from all the work of creating 

that He [for six days] had done.”

And in that seventh God showed to us

His divine grace and loving mercy

He gives us rest found in the stopping

And speaks to us in the stillness of silence

A still small voice comes in the heart of rest

A communion with Peace and Love

In Grace and Mercy from His breast

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

Nehemiah 8:10 Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

More scripture that inspired this poem:

Matthew: 1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath." 3 He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread--which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." 9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" 11 He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 13 Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

Luke 13:10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath." 15 The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?" 17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Luke 14:1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2 There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" 4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away. 5 Then he asked them, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?" 6 And they had nothing to say.

John 5:1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" 7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." 8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat." 11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' " 12 So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?" 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Life Through the Son

16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 

John 7:21 Jesus said to them, "I did one miracle, and you are all astonished. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.”

Hebrews4:9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, 

Inspiration was also found in: 24/6 A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life, By: Matthew Sleeth

by D. Denise Dianaty

Reviews

[Master K-tops]

This is a really poetic and inspirational piece. The choice of words and the metaphor definitely beatify this already-amazing poem. The theme is the stand-out here. The way we all work like machines and leave no time for God to minister to us is so disturbing.

Great poem.

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you.

I agree with your statement that we leave no time for God is disturbing. But, whatever you believe, we also leave no time for humanity in denying ourselves and others that time set apart to renew our hearts, minds, and souls.

[Sami Khalil]

Your faith shines through. Your wisdom is reflective of your inner values. Excellent...:).....

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you very much.

[Sami Khalil]

You are welcome muchly....:).......

[NoelHC]

A day of rest. What a concept. I remember as a child, and later as a teen, and even later as a young adult the quiet and the peace of a Sunday. No stores open, no work performed, families spending time together.
Today that has disappeared in the apparent need for 24/7 hour shopping, and instant gratification.
A thought provoking write.

[MomzillaNC]

IKWYM. I think that's why our pastor chose Mark Sleeth's book, 24/6 for study. We're so busy connecting around the world and keeping up with all the reality and gossip shows, that often seem deaf to the Peace of the Lord.

[MomzillaNC]

Excuse me, that's Matthew Sleeth's book 24/6

[Rene Salinas]

What a respectable feeling here. There seems to be a admittance of doctrine or so, that would point out to a very specfic way to understand divinity and also how that impacts life of the writer or written about. The feelings at the start so much felt, nowadays it doesn't really matter what stage of life you are, life manages to make it busy for you so you become absorbed. As it is then it is difficult to uphold a sense of serinity and equanimity towards anything else. I think the most common feeling would be come Friday 5 ish or so is considered week end conciousness untill Sunday evening. But in here the significant side of it is that within the framework upheld is that life has a purpose and by the looks of it a way to live it. Nerdy as Iam I copy pasted the minute writing at the end which some are fragments of scripture and others interesting reference to knowledge.

A interesting read. Full of respect and commitment.

Thankyou!

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you so very much. What a fulsome review. I tried to stay away from doctrine, but did try to keep the sentiments within the context of scripture. To me, though, Sabbath isn't a specific day each week to be slavishly observed. I think, rather, as Christ showed in those scriptures I included, it's about setting a day aside to stop, renew, and be still and quiet so we can revel in the still small voice when the Divine communicates with us.

[Lyn Anderson]

I think this well expresses the biblical verses and the need for the day of rest to honour God. I once again am flummoxed by the tiny print -- but that's just me.

[MomzillaNC]

The tiny print is the reference material I studied before penning this one. It's appropriate to include the research references; but the resources aren't the poem. Besides… you can always zoom in! :D

[Lyn Anderson]

Ah, yes, I know it is the reference material, I am just blind as a bat without my proper glasses, broken in an accident and waiting for them to come in.

[MomzillaNC]

IKWYM! I'm the same way! I can't see bupkis without the correct glasses! And, it's such a pain carting around three different pair of glasses!