Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
Mark 2:27 (NASB)
Many of us don’t get enough rest. Many of us have been taught to hustle, grind, work hard, and achieve. For many of us, rest is a reluctant necessity rather than a refreshing joy.
While I was in University, I learned about the beauty of rest and how impactful keeping a Sabbath could be. Setting aside every Saturday to rest from studying, homework, and the busyness of college allowed me to embrace the joy that God had for me. I felt closer to Him and more in tune with His heart. I had dedicated time to study His word, serve His people, and follow His will. Plus, surprisingly, because I knew I couldn’t do any work on Saturdays, I was even more efficient with homework and studying during the week!
Since University, I’ve continued to try embracing the Sabbath, and it’s been such a fruitful gift.
This rhythm of a weekly Sabbath extended to God’s commands for a 7-year cycle of Sabbath. In God’s commands to the Israelites, He speaks of two different kinds of rest to prioritize in the 7th year:
- rest for the land
- rest for the workers
rest for the land
For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.
God (Leviticus 25:3-5)
This principle of rest for the land is a fascinating one. You may remember the idea of crop rotation from your education. Essentially, if you plant and harvest the same crops repeatedly, you deplete the land of the same nutrients and will eventually struggle to produce the same yield. At this point, the land becomes hard to work and more susceptible to disease, pests, and erosion.
God codified this into a Land Sabbath – every 7th year, the Israelites were to rest from working the land, and to let it “lie fallow”. This was a common principle in the past that allowed the land to restore its nutrients and be rejuvenated. It’s amazing that even the land God created requires rhythms of rejuvenation and restoration!
In the modern era, we still contend with the depletion of land resources – however, due to enhanced crop rotation, fertilizer production, and scientific advancements, humans can now work the land every year, so that yield is maximized.
I think there’s a lot of wisdom in what God provided. The Sabbath Year for the land allows it to rest and continue to be fruitful and productive, but there’s also a deeper meaning here: we shouldn’t try to maximize output at the expense of personal and environmental health – live with what you have, enjoy rest, and trust that God will provide enough for us.
rest for the workers
You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food.
God (Leviticus 25:5-7)
Living has always been struggle of survival. Everyone has to work; in fact, work was even designated back during the Garden of Eden! We all need to obtain the resources we need to survive.
However, God’s command of the Sabbath Year flips that on its head to illustrate that our survival is, in fact, not up to us but to Him. With that, He commands the Israelites, their workers, and their animals to a full year of rest on every 7th year.
Without working for it in the final year, the Land will produce enough food for everyone who relies on the land: the owners, slaves, hired workers, foreigners, and even the domesticated and wild animals. Truly, this is a demonstration of Jesus’ teachings thousands of years into the future in Matthew 6:
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
JEsus Christ (Matthew 6:30-31)
so what?
As I think through these bible passages and principles, I feel God giving me the following takeaway messages:
- We don’t rest enough!
- Rest is a gift from the Lord
- Rest is not weakness, but a realization of both your finite life and God’s infinite riches and blessings
I would encourage every reader here to start employing some rhythms of rest, whether it be a few minutes of quiet time with God each morning, an hour of meditation and reflection on the day’s events each night, or a day of rest dedicated to the Lord, a Sabbath, each week.
Carve out some time for yourself to slow down – if you don’t make a conscious effort, the world will sweep you away in the incessant busyness and demand for more output and productivity from your life.
But in God’s kingdom, you can rest knowing that maximizing output and productivity is not His chief aim for your life – rather, His aim is that you would know Him, rest in Him, and follow after Him.