A Special Day to Remember

It's Sabbath once again. One whole week has come and gone. The same time one week ago, I was at this same place–at another bench, but it's still in the same church.

Sabbath is when I put my life on "pause." When anything and everything that has nothing to do with giving glory, honor, and praise to God is put aside until the sun sets again on Saturday and a whole new week begins anew. That's whole one day reserved for no one but God. Considering He gave me six days out of the entire seven-day week to do whatever my heart desires, I'd say one solid day to focus on nothing but our relationship and my worship of Him is really not asking much from me at all.

Sometimes though, I fail at even that simple task. Sometimes, I get too caught up in the cares of this world that such thoughts intrude even on the Sabbath. This usually happens when I don't start and end my day with a prayer to God–when I forget to give importance to our relationship and I just rush out straight into the daily tasks at hand.

Those days are when I lose my focus and foothold on God. When I turn from being Jesus-centered to become M.E.-centered. That's when I become panicky and overwhelmed at the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that life and the enemy of my soul throw my way. Like Peter, the once impetuous disciple, I took my eyes off Christ and turned them to the raging waters all around me. Like Peter, that's when I sank in despair, fear, and gloom.

At that very moment, I had forgotten one important reminder immortalized in a song: "His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me."

And then the Sabbath comes around again. It shakes me out of my worldliness and reminds me why I am commanded to worship God every seventh-day Sabbath. With the Sabbath, God reminds me that He is the Creator of all things. He reminds me that as Creator, He deserves my praise and worship.

Next comes the remembrance that God the Father sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to live a life full of sorrows and a death that was undeserved. This thought doubles the meaning of the Sabbath for me. And that's when I stop and seek forgiveness. In spite of all the shallow, trivial, worldly thoughts I first dragged into the Sabbath, that's when I turn my feet and hands from doing my own things on the Sabbath and turn to worship the Lord. 

Written by hand on November 16, 2007 at 7:38 P.M.