Space To Exhale

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

and from doing as you please on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’S holy day

honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way

and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the Lord.”

(Isaiah 58:13 – 14)

It’s good to be reminded that the reality of true Sabbath is in Christ. In Him we see a picture of grace. And in grace we can be vulnerable enough to be completely honest with ourselves about ourselves.

Completely honest.

There are honest, personal reasons we need to observe the Sabbath that will be unique for each person. There are private conversations we need to have with God. We all need to hit pause, sit with God, and ask Him to reveal some things to us.

And when I consider Isaiah 58:13 – 14, something profound occurs to me — it’s not just a day for me to give to God. It’s a day that God has something He wants to give me if only I’ll slow down enough to receive it. “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord.” The Sabbath isn’t merely a time to be observed; it’s a time to be preserved. It’s a time to rediscover our joy in the Lord. Yes! I need this. I want to be a preserver of this day — one who is determined to set aside this day of personal preservation and rediscovered joy.

The observer remembers to rest.

The preserver rests to remember —to remember that it’s all about God.

The observer remembers to rest and pause on the Sabbath day in order to follow a rule. The preserver does more than follow a rule. She follows God’s desire and embraces God’s purpose in the rest. She spends one day a week letting the fresh wind of God’s rest blow through her, cleaning out all she’s been taking in during the week with a purifying soul exhale.

It’s all about pausing and connecting with God without the distracting chaos of our everyday routines. For one day a week, we step out of the fray and let God direct our day according to His rhythm, not ours. God’s rhythm preserves the best in us, reveals the places we’re getting off track, and prevents us from being filled with unnecessary clutter. Once we see clutter—the places where we’re going our own way, the areas where we’re more self-pleasing than God-pleasing, the idle words that need to be reined in—we can deal with the clutter.

The Sabbath makes this possible.

Taking this one day for rest gives my soul the freedom it so desperately needs. Freedom to breathe. Space to breathe. Inhaling and exhaling in a gentle rhythm set by God. This is what my son Mark is really good at. It’s not just that his brain can rest and think no thoughts. He really knows how to embrace space for his soul to breathe.

And you know what? I’ve never seen Mark come unglued. Never. This is partly because he has a beautiful temperament. But it is also because he knows what it means to find his joy in Christ. In grace. In Sabbath. I once asked Mark, “How is it you don’t get angry when your brother does something to annoy you?”

“Simple,” he replied. “If he’s getting on my nerves, I just tell him not to do that. And if he keeps doing it, I walk away.” He inhales the issue and then exhales it with grace.

Alrighty then. No need to get all angry and complicated and overanalyzing. Just an honest assessment from a soul who is rested enough to stay calm. Joy, rest, grace. Yes, I want more of this Sabbath.