By: Olivia Knott

So I’m just going to get right into it because I actually have no idea how to start this whimsical topic of rest. In reality, I think that Americans don’t really know how to define such a term: businesses and stores are open 7 days a week, some for 24 hours; people work on the weekend and take rest in the middle of the week. If we ever do relax it’s only for a few hours-or we burn out and rest for longer. Our idea of rest is unorganized and variable.

Though we read our Bibles and attend hours at church, we have overlooked this one essential part of our walk with God: rest. Rest is a part of God’s plan for us and He has given us a day to consistently meet with Him and rest, and I think that we have all forgotten it. And, it’s actually so ironic that we have forgotten it because this was the only command that God said emphasized remembering.

In Exodus 20 lay the handy ten commandments and in all of the 10 commands there is one that is explained the most: rest.

Exodus 20:8-11:“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor they maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the sabbath day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.” 

First though, when is the seventh day of the week? If you look at the calendar, it’s Saturday. (technically it’s Friday evening to Saturday evening. Why? Because one evening and one morning makes one day, and so starting from Friday evening through Saturday morning, all the way until the evening starts, is the day of rest (Genesis 1:5)).

But, I feel like the next thing to wonder is if it’s on Saturday, then why do Christians usually rest on Sunday?

If you do a Google search, it says that an old Roman emperor, Constantine, was like “Christians rest and worship on Sunday to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection.” And hey, hear me out, I don’t think there’s anything with worshiping Jesus on Sunday because it is a holy day. It is the day that Jesus rose again. We should worship on that day for sure. However, Jesus never changed the day of rest with His resurrection. The commandment remains and Jesus said that He never came to break the commands, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17-20).

So yeah it’s a somewhat sweet gesture that Constantine was like “Hey we’re gonna establish Sunday as the day of rest because Jesus rose this day,” but in reality not resting on the seventh day is still disobedience to God because it was never in God’s will to literally reverse what God has already spoken. God is never going to go back on His word, it’s just not His character. Jesus rose on the first day of the week, Sunday, but that was not Him saying He was chill with the day of rest changing from the seventh day to the first. That would be Jesus contradicting Himself if He did because He is the Law of Moses and the commandments command rest.

I think the greatest wonder after this though is still “Why does it matter?” My dad grew up resting on the Sabbath day and then when he got older he was like “Yeah, it’s not important. It’s just a day.” But after my dad saw this documentary explaining the Sabbath and how its meaning got confuddled over time, he realized its importance. 

The Sabbath day is like God planning a date with you. Imagine God has the reservation, He has the table set, and He has the meal prepared, and He’s just waiting to meet you there. That is really all the Sabbath is. It’s a time to really reconnect with God and that is why it is important. And that is why the day that God has chosen is important because that is the day right after He made humans. He made rest directly after He made us so that we can connect with Him. 

It’s a set day every week to make time for. So you don’t have to think, “Yeah I’m tired, I’m just gonna rest tomorrow,” and tomorrow is Wednesday and you have an assignment due at 11:59. Set aside everything for the week and get it done so when the Sabbath arrives, you can just chill with God. 

And also, neglecting rest is disobedient to God. The command to rest is just as important as the command to not kill. All of God’s commands are weighed on the same level and one is not greater than the other just because we feel like it is. Not resting on the seventh day is a sin because it is breaking God’s command. And, I feel like this commands goes to show you why sin is sin: sin simply means distance and separation from God. Sin, in its entirety, is divorcing us from God and that’s why disobeying His commands just naturally push us farther away from Him.

I feel like just the command of God to rest also really shows the goodness of God. God literally commands you to relax. He wants you to take time and rest in Him. God knew we would be tired and busy, and that’s why He said “remember.” He literally made a command for you to rest so that you wouldn’t have any excuse not to. Your rest is so important to Him and your relationship with Him that He literally made that, out of all things, a command. His commands are for your own good because He genuinely loves you.

But, also, a good question to wonder is what is rest?

To be real, it can feel like rest is just doing nothing at all. I’m not trying to be corny but this is going to be a semi-corny segway into what the Pharisees concluded rest was. So there was this part in the Bible where Jesus and His disciples were walking around trying to find some food to eat, and the Pharisees saw Jesus and were talking about some “Hey, it’s the Sabbath day. You’re supposed to rest and sleep in your bed all day and not do anything at all,” (I’m paraphrasing). 

The verse happens in Matthew 12:1-8 where the Pharisees say something stupid and Jesus replies with the hardest bar ever. This is to say that Jesus is our way of knowing how to rest and that we should seek Him on how to rest according to His will. Also, what Jesus did on the Sabbath day is our example of what is good to do on the Sabbath day.  

So many times, we can get burnt out and weary. God understands that, and He knows that life is hard, and that’s why He made this day for us. I’m going to be real though: the first time I heard about the Sabbath day I really didn’t think it was important. So, I had talked to God about it and I asked “God, why is the day that we rest important to You? Why does it matter? Why can’t it be any other day?” And God revealed all that I’ve written to you now, to me then. But, I would still encourage everyone to ask God questions. Ask God why does it matter. It helps to get understanding from the source. God truly explains things better than I or any other person can.  So, seek God and ask Him your questions, and while you’re at it, rest a wee bit, chat. It’s good for you and God misses you 🙂