Shabbat is a burden?

A couple of Shabbat's ago, we were visited by a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses. I just capitalized that religion, but I don't know why. I enjoy attempting to see the scriptures from their point of view, just for giggles, but there was a time where I told them that I was just about to vomit.

We were explaining how we could NOT be convinced that YHVH (or JHVH to them) would create , in the Torah commands, such a beautiful expression of who He is, and then suddenly throw most of it out without warning, just after taking the trouble and pain of showing us in the flesh how best to walk it out in the life of Yahshua! These fine folks will eagerly agree that YHVH's principles are eternal, but insist that the words "Forever, Everlasting, Perpetual, and Permanent", specifically in regard to the Torah commands can sometimes mean, "for a time, until I suddenly choose to change my mind, or until it becomes inconvenient".

This came to a head when they told us that the Sabbath was a burden we no longer needed to keep. They anounced this with a tone of liberation, as if we should applaud or dance for joy. While we were used to the "Jesus changed the day" ridiculous argument, and the "choose one day in seven...pick your favorite" argument, the "don't rest at all because resting is a burden" argument is a new one. In fairness, I am sure this is not how they would explain it. I am sure they would say that we should be "resting" in Him every day, not just once a week. After keeping the true Sabbath in the proper spirit for years now, any explanation that views the Sabbath as a burden, or a legalistic requirement, or as an inconvenient obstacle to productivity truly falls on deaf ears. The full command is to "work for six days, and rest on the Seventh", so watering down that rest over the whole week is also patently absurd.

I have a back porch roof left half finished, 3 feet of grass to mow on about 20 acres, a tree half cut down, my home office desk covered by a tarp in a leaky barn...plenty to do. On the Sabbath, however, all of these tasks are far from my heart. By edifying the Sabbath, we are remembering the importance of eternal things, not our list of issues and problems. We are not struggling to find time to squeeze YHVH into our schedule or scheduling 'quality time' with the kids. The Sabbath is a built-in solution to all of these issues, and COMMANDED, because He knows our tendency to reverse the order of the true priorities, or omit them slowly overtime until are lives are left a disaster.

Yesterday, on the Sabbath, Elijah and I went for a walk into the thick uncharted woods on the South West corner of the property. This was an amazing Father and Son experience as we were completely surrounded by bramble, thorns, tightly woven honeysuckle and only a thin deer path as our guide. Jacob made this trip in the Winter and told us of a constant spring running down there. This has since become legend, and the goal of our crusade. We did finally find the PVC pipe that 'Jacob de Leon' had stuck into the spring, plus 2 more deep pools of water further up in the thicket. We both came back covered in Ticks, scratches, and generally itchy. It was awesome.

Shortly after that, we as a whole family took another walk to find medicinal herbs along our mile of road frontage. Just as we were at the end of the road, YHVH fired off a warning shot of thunder, causing us to turn around in time to witness the large black cloud over our house, and begging us to return home. We double-timed it back up the hill, and got there in time to watch the raindrops fall from under our new front porch. A rainbow started across the street. We were able to watch it grow from the very root, slowly up into the sky up to the highest cloud, and down the other side. It was about a 10 minute experience with the kids dancing and cheering on the rainbow from one end to the other. It was awesome.

After dinner, the clouds were still dark and thick. I expected that last night would be the first day of a new month, so I kept watching the sky for the sign of a tiny sliver of the new moon. Despite the cloud cover, YHVH opened up a temporary crack in the cloud cover reveal the visible proof that the new month had begun. I sounded the shofar, while the rest of the family scrambled to grab their rams horns to join me. Just like last month, we had a joyous time, as a family, passing the horns around and worshipping the creator with blast after blast.

As the sun set and as Shabbat was ending, I opened the scriptures and read from PSALM 119, a love song to YHVH thanking him for the commandments. We counted that day as complete by singing a song/blessing/prayer composed by my children concerning the counting of the Omer as we faithfully anticipate Shavout.

So... as I was saying. Anyone who tries to tell me that the Sabbath is a burden may just have to clean vomit off of their shoes. Anyone who feels distant from YHVH should repent of ignoring the simple command to keep the Sabbath. Anyone who feels distant from their family needs to insist that everyone's schedule be PERMANENTLY cleared on this Holy Seventh Day. Anyone who feels burdened by life, a never-ending "to do" list, or even "church activities", needs to remember Yahshua's teaching..."the Sabbath was made for man", and that "He is Lord over the Sabbath". This day is simply a taste of the true rest that Adam enjoyed before screwing it all up, and a down payment of the eternal rest we will enter into after all is restored. Enjoy it! ...And that is an order!