Sabbath Encourages Us To Prioritize Delight - The Sabbath Way: Finding the Rest Your Soul Craves

“If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honourable.” (Isaiah 58:13, NRSV)

“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NRSV)

Over and over in Scripture, we see that God’s desire for God’s people is that they would “have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Abundance, wholeness, joy, connection—these are central to God’s dream for creation. And central to God’s strategy for empowering us to live into that dream is the Sabbath.

God announces through the prophet Isaiah that the people of Israel would experience abundance beyond their imaginations if they would “call the Sabbath a delight” (Isaiah 58:13). Isaiah is not talking about periodically adding Sabbath into their otherwise busy, anxious, and overburdened lives. Isaiah is talking about centering Sabbath and its delight as the primary organizing principles of their lives. It seems too good to be true, right? Well, easier said than done, I think.

You see, this passage comes from the period in Israel’s history in which they were returning from seventy years of exile in Babylon. They were grateful to return home, but they also knew that the home they left no longer existed. They had lived as refugees in a foreign land and had suffered great trauma. They were not only exiles from Israel; they were also what poet Maya Angelou insightfully called “exiles from delight” as well.

Can you relate to the experience of being exiled from delight? I sure can. It seems like everywhere we turn these days we hear reports of violence and warfare, economic uncertainty, political polarization, rising teen suicide rates, an epidemic of loneliness, and so much more. When there’s so much to worry about and when the future seems as uncertain as ever, how do we access our delight? And is it even appropriate to do so? Isaiah seemed to think so.

So did the prophet Jeremiah. He spoke to his fellow Israelites as the siege ramps that would eventually destroy Jerusalem were being built. As the people feared and fretted and were filled with anxiety, he pointed them in a counterintuitive direction. Jeremiah saw through their anxiety and fear to what their hearts truly needed: rest. Not a catnap or a long weekend, but a heart orientation that found its security wholly in the goodness of God. A heart that trusts is a heart at rest. And a heart at rest has access to joy. Jeremiah wanted them to trust in God instead of seeking victory through violence.

Jeremiah invited Israel to walk the “ancient paths, where the good way lies” in order to “find rest for [their] souls” (Jeremiah 6:16). Jeremiah was inviting them to walk the Sabbath way, the way of trust, of letting go, of embracing their limits, the way of grace and abundance and delight. Jeremiah’s words are echoed on Jesus’ lips in Matthew 11:28-29: “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (NRSV, emphasis added). Jesus, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and the Sabbath are all calling you to find rest and delight. Will you follow?