Sabbath's Attack on Busyness

Wayne Muller’s book Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest provides a very helpful theological discussion of the Sabbath.

Muller notes that many of us use the standard greeting: “I am so Busy.” Many of us use our busyness as a “trophy.” We think that busyness is some sort of prize. Our culture prizes “busyness.” I know people who have 2 cell phones, a beeper, and numerous email accounts. All testify that they are busy.

What Are We Seeking In Busyness?

What are we seeking in this busyness? Too often we are seeking significance. We are somebody because we are doing something important. And if it is not important at least it is doing something. What are we seeking? We are seeking “more.” Muller describes this as:

In our drive for success we are seduced by the promises of more: More money, more recognition, more satisfaction, more love, more information, more influence, more possessions, more security.

What happens in our search for more? We lose the concept of “enough.” We lose the value of just being. We lose the ability to just enjoy and celebrate. We lose the knowledge that we cannot do everything. We lose rest. In short we lose Sabbath.

Sabbath and Last Days

Certainly the Devil knows what the Devil is up to when the principle of rest and the Sabbath is attacked. In the last days, God will have a people who will “keep the commandments of God.”(Revelation 14:12) That people will of necessity “Remember the Sabbath.”(Exodus 20:8) They will remember to rest. They will remember that this world that judges us totally by what we can “do” or what we can “accomplish” is against God’s designs. We must never forget that Adam’s was created on the 6th day and therefore his first full day was the Sabbath. Adam first rested before Adam begun to “subdue the earth.”(Genesis 1:28) In the last days, God wants us to “Remember” that even God rested. On the Seventh-day we come together to celebrate that we all can just get off the treadmill and rest.

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