Sabbath Lessons in Quarantine—Part 1
As I’ve been in touch with many during wave after wave of COVID-19 announcements, pronouncements, warnings, and restrictions, in addition to hearing a lot of angst and concern, I’m also hearing a lot of surprised thankfulness for the unexpected rest. Whether it is the ability to sleep in instead of having to commute, or the quiet of working from home, or the news focus being primarily one thing instead of a multitude of distractions, or cooking at home and staying in, many are finding life simpler.
These conversations have reminded me again and again of lessons that I’ve learned under a different sort of “forced quarantine”: sabbaticals. My husband works in academia, and we have taken several every-seventh-year sabbaticals. Initially, for me, it meant quitting a job (often one I loved), packing up our home enough that someone else could rent it and live there—using our things, moving to a different place, finding somewhere to live, and establishing new routines and connections there. I usually hated the early parts of the process—the work, the sorting/packing, the giving-up, the saying goodbye, the loss of identity with the loss of a job, etc. Even though it was our choice, it was still hard.
But, over time, I learned that making these drastic changes periodically in our lives resulted in better rest, improved perspective, openness to new things and new people, more time together, and time to catch up on reading and learning in ways that seemed impossible in our regular lives. These learnings stayed with us upon our return home, and helped us reevaluate our involvements, commitments, and boundaries in healthier ways.
The idea of sabbaticals is rooted in the concept of Sabbath Rest--instituted at the time of the creation of the world. God worked...and God rested. The day of rest was blessed and made holy by God. We often forget that the God-instituted rhythm of “six-days-on, one-day-off” is for our own health and well-being, and was modeled by God Himself.
By the seventh day God had finished 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 had done. —Genesis 2:2-3
The importance of having a consistent, regular pattern of rest and worship was reiterated by God to the just-freed Israelites:
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. —Exodus 20:8-11
While Moses was on Mount Sinai, the Lord said to him, “Give these instructions to the Israelites: When you have entered the land I am giving you as an inheritance, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the Lord every seventh year…during the seventh year, the land will enjoy a Sabbath year of rest to the Lord. —Leviticus 25:1-4
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. —Deuteronomy 5:12, 15
“Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day He gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out. So the people rested on the seventh day” —Exodus 16:29-30
“Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed. —Exodus 23:12
Jesus, instead of focusing on the Sabbath command itself, helps us focus on the intent of God’s directive. It’s not about taking a legalistic approach to the day of the week, nor is it about making many rules about what is or isn’t “work.” On the Sabbath, Jesus’ disciples picked grain to feed their hunger, Jesus healed, He taught, went to dinner at the house of a Pharisee—in fact, He did many things that He also did on other days of the week. It’s about keeping our focus on God, on what He values, and on what He desires us to do.
Then Jesus said to them [the Pharisees and teachers of the law who were looking to accuse Him], “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” —Luke 6:9
On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. —Acts 13:44
As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures. —Acts 17:2
Then he [Jesus] said to them [the Pharisees], “The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath; so the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” —Mark 2:27-28
· How, in this time of “enforced” rest, can you allow yourself to be renewed and refreshed?
· In addition to what you have had to give up, what have you gained?
· Can you think of something that, now that you cannot do it/participate in it for a few months’ time, you think would be good to give up for good—even once you have the freedom to return to it?
· Ask God to use this time “sheltering in place” or “safer-at-home” for your good and to His glory.
Shirley Giles Davis, author of the God. Gifts. You. Your Unique Calling and Design workbook, Your Unique Design Class Guide, Your Unique Design Facilitator Guide, and Gifts-Calling-Purpose blog, is a consultant, coach, facilitator who has spent over three decades equipping churches of 60 to 9,000. She has also been EquipConnectServe Director at her 1,200 member church since 1999.
Photo © Shirley Giles Davis, all rights reserved.