Today's Devotion - Honoring the Sabbath

Honoring the Sabbath
Read Psalm 127:1-2 and Ezekiel 20:8-20

I gave them my sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, so that they might know that I the Lord sanctify them.
-Ezekiel 20:12 (NRSV)

THE Israelites had rebelled against everything God asked of them. They didn't listen to God, they didn't get rid of their idols, they didn't follow God's rules or laws, and they didn't honor the Sabbath.

Why is it so important to God that people honor the Sabbath? Ezekiel gives us a clue. In the Book of Ezekiel we read that God gave the Israelites the Sabbath as a sign, a sort of covenant, in order to help them remember that God called them to be holy. They were to observe the Sabbath by keeping a sacred day committed to God and by resting on that day. God wanted them to suspend their rushing around and postpone their tasks for one day to be blessed through resting.

How like the Israelites we are today! We don't follow God's call to honor the Sabbath. God still calls us to take time out of our usual busy schedules to rest and pray, to worship with others, and to resist the lure always to be accomplishing something. When we observe the day set aside for rest, we show our trust that God will and does provide for us and acknowledge that God calls us to be holy.

Robin R. Priestley (New Mexico, U.S.A.)

PRAYER
Lord God, as with the Israelites, you have called us to be holy. So often we forget! Help us to honor you by observing and yearning for time set apart to be with you. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
How do I spend sabbath time with God?

PRAYER FOCUS
Those who cannot rest.