ASLC Devotions -- Monday

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

I have always found reading and writing about the sabbath, and sabbath-keeping, to be challenging. Mostly, I guess, because I'm not especially good about keeping sabbath and making it holy. After all, there's just a lot that needs to get done -- and who will do it, if I don't? Maybe because I grew up continuously reading Little House on the Prairie books, the idea of sabbath as sitting still all day and limiting my activity to reading scripture sounds neither plausible nor very restful to me. However we end up defining what it means to keep the sabbath, though, this verse from Ezekiel above is incredibly helpful to me -- and somehow I had missed it.

Instead of getting caught up in the discussion of what is allowed and what isn't, look again at the reason that God gives for the sabbath: so that they might know that I the Lord sanctify them. So that they might know that I make them holy. Well, now, isn't that a lovely thought? The sabbath is a gift, a sign (like the rainbow!), so that we might know that God has made us holy. 

Peace,
Pastor Jenn