Rest Room

Exodus 31:12-18

There will be another statement of the Sabbath command at the beginning of another section of instructions concerning the building of the tabernacle (35:1-3). This underlines the close connection between tabernacle and Sabbath. There is much detailed, painstaking work involved in the building of the tabernacle and furnishing it, along with the activities to take place in it.

The tabernacle is intended to be a way to experience the fulfillment of the promise of God to dwell with the people. The Sabbath is a reminder that it is all God’s initiative and power and work, even though humans are given much to do. It all depends on grace. I suppose one way to understand why the penalty for violating the Sabbath is so severe is to see that if the people forget the lesson it embodies they are dead as God’s people anyway.

A parallel for me is preparing for worship, or doing any of the Lord’s work in the context of his church. We are to work hard and well. The work can be be exasperating; it can and does bring conflict, wear and tear on people. We can even experience evil in the setting of doing the Lord’s work. But at some point we all have to say regularly what I find myself saying to myself and praying to God before heading into weekly worship: “It’s not about me, Lord.” If no one appreciates what I do on a human level, it doesn’t matter. If no one knows how much time I spent on this, it doesn’t matter. If not one knows or cares what personal demons or practical frustrations or human annoyances or unfairness or other cr** I felt I had to deal with, it doesn’t matter. The truth is, anyway, I dish out my own measure of cr**; I am not fair to others; I can be and am a pain or disappointment or source of frustration to others on a regular basis. I have no credentials worth anything in heaven for what I do. I deserve hell. It is only because of the sacrifice of Christ and the choosing of God to dwell with all us needy, self-serving, self-absorbed, petty, squabbling little brats of his that I am able to do anything at all and any of us have any hope. On that basis, then, I and others together can address the things that can’t be glossed over that are wrong and need working on, to clear away the clutter of human behaviour that can obscure the light, and even the voice of God calling perpetually for there to be light.

So it’s not much for God to expect us to set aside all our striving for a bit to focus on him, since without him we are dead anyway. But with him, and because of him, we are glorified, set above the angels, live in anticipation of, and sharing now, what he has in mind for us, for no other reason than that he wants it for us.

Prayer:
Let this be a Sabbath moment for you to totally fill me and renew me. In Christ. Amen.