Happy Sabbath!

I hope you all had a wonderful week, and are looking at this Sabbath with excitement and joy. I really hope you have a restful evening planned, curled up somewhere nice and warm with God's Word in your lap. 

The Sabbath is such an incredible blessing.

In Genesis 1:30, before the first Sabbath, God looked back on the work he had done over the past 6 days, and indeed, it was very good. Genesis 2:1-3 records: 

"Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made."

God absolutely knew what he was doing when he designed that rest for mankind. As our creator, he knows our proclivities - and that there are some men and women would absolutely work 7 days a week if they weren't commanded to take a day and rest. For many - their work ethic and push to succeed at the expense of any rest or any vacation is a badge of honor, particularly in those that are uncommonly driven.

I've been reading a book about a man who is uncommonly driven. His name is David Goggins, and he wrote a book entitled, "You Can't Hurt Me". Mr. Goggins is a man who overcame a great deal of adversity in his life, from his childhood on. Much of that adversity manifested itself in overeating and stress and at 297 pounds he decided that enough was enough. He decided to become a Navy Seal, because he wanted to be an 'uncomman man among uncommon men." He was accepted into a recycle style program that allowed him to enroll based on past service, but the program was ending in 3 months. He was 106 pounds over the weight limit to be a Navy Seal, and in 3 months that door would close.

He lost 106 pounds in 3 months.

Through that process he began to learn that he was a lot tougher than he believed himself to be. Through the Navy Seal training, he came to terms with suffering and difficulty and trained his brain to accept it. He is one of the only Navy Seals to ever go through three "hell weeks", in a single year as a result of being medically forced out of two of those three due to injury. Ultimately his third attempt was successful despite the stress fractures in his legs, and he earned his way into the Seals (and earned his salty sailor stereotype - beware should you choose to look him up and listen to any of his interviews, he is a VERY salty sailor...) He has since gone on to become one of the top 20 ultra-distance runners in the world. Not necessarily by way of training, at least at first, but by sheer mental toughness. Since those first couple of races, he has trained more specifically for ultra distance running, winning race after race, his personal best being 205 miles in 39 hours. 

I recently saw him on a podcast in which he was describing his training regiment, and was asked about rest days. He kind of scoffed at the question and told the interviewer that he doesn't take any. That he trains 7 days a week. No rest days, no time for his body to recuperate. Just go, go, go for 7 days straight. If he did any less, he wouldn't hold himself accountable. In another interview, his wife said that from what she could tell, he hasn't taken a day off in the better part of 3 years.

While it's difficult to deny the results when you look at his accomplishments, that certainly isn't the way God intended it. 

In Exodus 20:9-11, God outlines the Sabbath commandment for the nation of Israel. 

"Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

It didn't matter if there was important things going on, in Exodus 34:21, God makes the point that whether it is seedtime or harvest, the Sabbath is to be kept.

The Sabbath is not just a day of rest, it points us back to Creation and our Creator! When we participate in the joy of the Sabbath rest, we are entering an unbroken cycle that goes all the way back to the Creation. It's incredible to consider.

Man was not designed to go 24/7. The Sabbath was made for man, and we were designed to have a break, a designated rest period that commemorates the creation, and focuses us upon the Creator. Recharges our batteries, and allows us to build a relationship with God, to come before Him in worship, and to learn more about His way.

I hope you have a wonderful Sabbath rest.