Why You Need a Sabbath—Especially When You're Too Busy

Exodus 20 and receiving a rhythm of rest, presence, and delight

By Pastor John Erickson

Does it ever feel like your whole week is one long Tuesday?

You wake up, check your phone, go to work, come home, deal with whatever needs to be dealt with, and get ready to do it again. Emails, appointments, messages, deadlines. Monday bleeds into Tuesday, Tuesday somehow becomes Thursday, and suddenly you're asking where the week went.

We're very good at keeping ourselves busy.

And then there's this strange commandment in the Bible: remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

We know about not murdering, not stealing, and not lying. Those seem like pretty reasonable things for God to ask. But setting apart a day to stop working?

Well, that's where we suddenly become experts at explaining why the rules can't possibly apply to us.

Rest Was Part of God's Design from the Beginning

The command to remember the Sabbath appears in Exodus 20, but the idea reaches back to the beginning of the Bible.

Genesis describes God creating the world and then resting on the seventh day. Not because he was worn out and desperately needed a nap. The picture is one of completion, delight, and a rhythm built into creation.

Later, Israel is instructed to stop working and remember that this day belongs to the Lord.

This is significant because these people knew something about relentless work. They had been enslaved in Egypt. Their value had been measured by what they produced.

And God brings them into a different way of life.

Their identity isn't determined by how many bricks they can make. They belong to him.

I wonder whether we need to hear that as much as they did.

Holy Doesn't Have to Mean Strange

One of the commands about Sabbath is to keep it holy.

That word can sound intimidating. We hear holy and picture something untouchable, mysterious, or a little weird.

But the basic idea is being set apart for a particular purpose.

I own a T-shirt with a tuxedo printed on it. I will wear it around town, but if I am officiating your wedding, I promise I understand the difference between that shirt and actual wedding clothes.

Some clothes are set apart for particular occasions. You treat them differently because they have a different purpose. That everyday distinction helps me understand what it means to set apart time.

Sabbath is meant to be a day that looks different from the rest of the week.

That doesn't mean everyone must follow the same schedule or create a long list of forbidden activities. It means we intentionally make room for what our ordinary pace pushes aside.

We stop.

We remember who God is.

And we make space to be present with him and with the people in our lives.

The Hard Part Is Actually Stopping

For some of us, rest is so unfamiliar that it feels almost irresponsible.

There's always one more email to answer, one more repair to make, one more thing to accomplish. Our phones make that temptation even worse. We're never really finished because there's always something waiting for us.

Sometimes what we call resting is simply trading one screen for another.

There's nothing inherently wrong with enjoying entertainment. But if you finish your day off feeling just as scattered and exhausted as when you started, it may be worth asking whether you actually rested.

Sabbath asks us to step out of the cycle of reacting to everything.

For Gina and me, that has meant making a deliberate change in our family rhythm: putting away phones, email, and television so we can be present with one another. We have practiced from Friday night to Saturday night. That timing is not a rule for everybody. The point is that our time actually looks different.

I also know that I often connect with God through being with other people. Rest does not have to mean isolating myself in a silent room all day. Shared meals, conversation, and worship can help me attend to His presence.

We can become so focused on doing important things that we miss the person directly in front of us.

I don't want to live that way. I don't want my family to remember me as the guy who was always busy doing good things but never available to them.

Set Apart, Stop, and Abide

I find it helpful to think about three movements.

Set apart. Choose a time intentionally. If you wait until the calendar mysteriously becomes empty, you're going to be waiting a long time. Put it on the calendar first.

Stop. Make room by setting down ordinary work and the activities that keep your mind constantly racing. It may take some preparation, and it may be inconvenient. That's part of learning a new rhythm.

Abide. Don't just create an empty day. Fill some of that space with what reconnects you to God, to people, and to the goodness of life. Pray. Read Scripture. Share a meal. Go for a walk. Laugh with your family.

The point is not to impress God by being inactive. It's to receive the gift of a different rhythm.

Start Small, but Start

I know some people work unpredictable shifts. Some care for children or family members whose needs don't politely pause every seventh day. That's real life. Sabbath practice requires wisdom, flexibility, and grace.

But don't let the difficulty become an excuse never to try.

Could you begin with a protected block of time? Could you put your phone away, finish necessary tasks ahead of time, and make space for worship and delight?

You don't have to become an expert by next week.

The invitation is to remember that you are not a machine and that your worth is not the same thing as your productivity.

You are loved by God before you finish your to-do list.

Maybe the most faithful thing you can do is stop long enough to remember that.