4 Benefits of Preparation & Rest

Last year at this time we were making the final preparations for our daughter’s wedding. It was stressful, intense, and very busy. There were so many details and it seemed like every day we thought of something else that needed to be done or picked up or added to the list. Now we are preparing for a two week cross country road trip and I find myself in planning mode again. I’m up to my eyeballs in maps, lists, itineraries, and hotel reservations. Every time I go to the store I think of something or end up buying something else we will need to bring with us.

This has all got me thinking more and more about preparation and rest. As we spend time preparing there is a build up of anticipation and excitement and then we finally get to do the thing we prepared for. Last summer it was the wedding, this summer it’s the road trip.

Old Testament Jews practiced “the day of Preparation,” the day before a Sabbath, dedicated to doing all the work that shouldn’t be done on the Sabbath or “rest day.” There was a weekly Sabbath, a few seasonal Sabbath festivals, an annual Sabbath (Passover), and even a Sabbath for the land to rest from being planted with crops every seventh year.

Here are four ways that Preparation and Sabbath Rest can benefit our spiritual lives and shift our focus back to Jesus in the “I’m busy” culture we live in.

1. Preparation Precedes Rest

Our aim with this summer road trip is to spend good time with family and friends and to show our boys and see for ourselves the beautiful land God created for us to dwell in and to get a break from work and hustle. The hard work of preparation makes the rest that much sweeter.

“I go to prepare a place for you.” -Jesus (John 14:2)

The Gospels tell us Jesus died on the day of preparation. The day of preparation was when all the extra work was done before a Sabbath so that the Sabbath rest could be observed and all the necessary work had already been done. It is fitting that Christ died on the day of preparation because his death on the cross prepared our place in eternity with him. When Christ said “it is finished” from the cross he completed all the preparation necessary for our eternal Sabbath with God. There is not one more thing we need to do to enter into that rest. Christ was the preparation and his rest becomes our Sabbath rest.

2. Sabbath is not for Self Indulgence but for Worship

The first mention of Sabbath rest and preparing extra the day before is in Exodus 16 when God provided manna for the children of Israel in the wilderness. Before any of the other 10 commandments were given God had Moses instruct the Israelites to gather double mana on the 6th day, prepare it however they wanted, and then rest on the 7th day. (Exodus 16:5&22-26)

God delivered the Israelites from slave labor in Egypt, and God, through Christ, delivers us from slave labor to our sin. Romans 6:20-23 says, “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In our culture the weekend is party time, but as Christians we should have a different mindset. We can and should find rest and refreshment in worship and communion rather than the frenzied self-indulgence promoted in our modern culture.

3. Sabbath Teaches us to Trust God

Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations.” As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land.” Exodus 16:32-35

God provided for the Israelites in the 40 year wilderness, but we all have a testimony of what the Lord has provided in our lives. These are the things we should remember and celebrate, believing Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” Sabbath rest gives us gratitude for God’s past provision and faith to trust God for the future. These testimonies are what we need to be teaching our kids and remembering with each other from generation to generation.

4. Sabbath Prevents Burnout and Workaholism

Deuteronomy 8:2-5 tells us, “And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you.”

While I would love to claim that clothing promise over my teenage boys, that’s not the point here. The point is that as we journey with the Lord he is there every step. Sabbath rest gives us time to live and breathe in the Spirit, time to worship in his presence and reset our values, time to fill up our depleted spiritual reserves. The rent or mortgage is not the purpose and goal of my life, nor is a good marriage or a good reputation. The purpose and goal of my life is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Running my life into the ground with busyness won’t help anyone. So I should work hard, but I should also rest and remember that bread isn’t the only thing I need.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on preparation and rest. Or comment below with your best road trip games!