Shabbat- to cease

'For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.'- Exodus 31:15

God commands us to rest. I mean, read this verse. Can you imagine if God worked that way today? If one day we just had too much to do or we decided to do some work on our day off and God just struck us right then and there. Woah, I would've been dead along time ago! Thank God He doesn't put us to death because of this anymore. But that doesn't take away the significance of this day or God's purpose for it. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't take a day to rest but we should treat is as though we were to be put to death if we didn't. The word holy means 'dedicated or consecrated to God.' God desires for us to take a day, stop all work, and just rest in His presence. We're given 7 days out of the week and all He asks is that at least one day we would completely dedicate it to Him, yet all too often we can't seem to do that. 

I believe this is the secret, the key, to remaining faithful to God and bearing fruit. Without taking the time to stop and reflect on God, then we fall short of His presence. We begin to focus on ourselves and what we need to do, what we want to do. I know for sure that it happens to me. As soon as I stop reading my Bible or if I miss spending time with Him for even a day or two, I notice that it impacts me in such a negative way. I become selfish and moody. I begin to lose focus and motivation. But as soon as I take some time to stop, rest, and breathe in His presence, it makes a heap of difference. 

"Let us therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience." -Hebrews 4:11

Make every effort. Of course, it's not easy. We are so busy these days. Our culture and society almost forces us to work and work, non-stop. We grow up learning that to succeed, we must keep going, to not give up even if we're too tired. We learn that we must constantly be doing something. We need to be working 10 hour days to get anywhere in life. Go ahead and listen to the world, but we see in the Bible that God teaches us the opposite. He calls us to stop and rest. To breath His name. To enter that secret place. That place where God tells us that everything is going to be okay. That secret place where God shelters us, steadies us, and forms us to who we are. 

Selah. (meditate on this)

We need it to survive, or else we fall away from our God.