Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. 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

Unless the Lord builds the house,
    the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
    the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
    and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
    for he grants sleep to those he loves.

• Psalm 127:1-2

“‘On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two lambs a year old without defect, together with its drink offering and a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil. This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.

• Numbers 28:9-10

In the seventh year Jehoiada sent for the commanders of units of a hundred, the Carites and the guards and had them brought to him at the temple of the Lord. He made a covenant with them and put them under oath at the temple of the Lord. Then he showed them the king’s son. He commanded them, saying, “This is what you are to do: You who are in the three companies that are going on duty on the Sabbath—a third of you guarding the royal palace, a third at the Sur Gate, and a third at the gate behind the guard, who take turns guarding the temple—and you who are in the other two companies that normally go off Sabbath duty are all to guard the temple for the king. Station yourselves around the king, each of you with weapon in hand. Anyone who approaches your ranks is to be put to death. Stay close to the king wherever he goes.”
The commanders of units of a hundred did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each one took his men—those who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off duty—and came to Jehoiada the priest. Then he gave the commanders the spears and shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of the Lord. The guards, each with weapon in hand, stationed themselves around the king—near the altar and the temple, from the south side to the north side of the temple.
Jehoiada brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him; he presented him with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king. They anointed him, and the people clapped their hands and shouted, “Long live the king!”
When Athaliah heard the noise made by the guards and the people, she went to the people at the temple of the Lord. She looked and there was the king, standing by the pillar, as the custom was. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her robes and called out, “Treason! Treason!”

• 2 Kings 11:4-14

“The Decalogue contains no commandment to work, but there is a commandment to rest from work. That is contrary to our usual way of thinking. In the third commandment, work is presupposed as something that is natural, but God knows that the work we do can gain so much power over us we can no longer leave it alone. Our activity can promise us everything and make us forget God. Therefore God commands us to rest from our work. It is not work that supports us, but God alone; we live not from work, but from God alone. ‘Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain. … For he provides for his beloved during sleep’ (Ps. 127:1, 2d [alternate reading]), says the Bible, against all who would make work their religion. The Sabbath rest is the visible sign that human beings live by the grace of God and not by works. …
“The Sabbath rest is the indispensable prerequisite for keeping the Sabbath holy. Human beings who are exhausted and have been degraded to working machines need rest so they can clear their minds, cleanse their feelings, and redirect their wills.”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You (devotion for February 9, devotions compiled from his writings)

The Ten Commandments tell us to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.  We are not supposed to do any work on our designated day of rest.  We are to devote ourselves to the worship of God.

These days, we seem to ignore God, do a lot of work on Sunday, and watch professional sports most of the day.

But if there were sacrifices to be made on the Sabbath, the priests were doing their duties.  And the overthrow of the evil queen of Judah, Athaliah, notes that the priest Jehoiada, called upon those who stand guard on the Sabbath.

You can compare that to a pastor who preaches a sermon on Sunday.  As my brother-in-law said, “And the rest of the week he does nothing at all.”  I told him that the pastors that I knew who shunned pastoral care during the week were not very good preachers on Sunday.

So, I try to write something on Sunday afternoon.  I consider it an act of glorifying God, but naps often overtake me where Monday through Friday, at least, the nap monster is much less likely to even try to attack.  Saturdays are iffy.

My mother drilled into me that “There is no rest for the wicked, and the righteous don’t need it.”  It was so well practiced that she must have heard it a lot as she was growing up.  I have heard that many other people have written about it online, but no one seems to show the origin of the phrase.  Isaiah 57:20 mirrors the first half, but the origin of the second half of the expression cannot be found in the Bible.  God rested on the seventh day, and God commands us to rest.

But in a way, I find rest while writing.  When I have that story rolling around in my head, it has to come out.  Thus, I cannot seem to rest until I have written it down or typed it into the computer.

Rest is necessary.  Glorifying God is necessary, good practice for when we go to Heaven.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.