By Rachel Loe, June 3, 2024
What comes to mind when you think of summer? Trips to the beach? Fireworks while celebrating Independence Day? Participating in the Peachtree Road Race? Hikes? Picnics? Outdoor concerts? Hanging out at the pool? Attending Atlanta Braves games?
What likely does not come to mind are the demands of work. Last minute deadlines. Filling in for coworkers on vacation. Missing out on time with family and friends because work is a priority and things have gotten busy.
Remember that while God created people to work, He is also the Lord of the Sabbath and the author of celebrations and time off. Sabbath – Shabbat – is a day of the week established by God as a time to rest and gather to return thanks to Him. (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:11). One of the Ten Commandments instructs us to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Sometimes we have a hard time remembering that God commands us to take a break and set aside one day of the week for rest.
Holidays, or holy days (roots in an Old English word that was first recorded in 950 AD, as hāligdæg (hālig for “holy” and dæg for “day”) are originally meant as a time to rest and remember what the Lord has done. There are eight feasts (the biblical term for holiday) in the Old Testament that were instituted directly by God. Each one is tied to remembering the Lord’s goodness, deliverance, and provision.
Feast of Trumpets – Rosh Hashanah: The beginning of the ten days of repentance leading up to the Day of Atonement in which the people gather and rest (Leviticus 23:22-25)
Day of Atonement – Yom Kippur: The people gather, rest, and fast as the High Priest enters the Holy of Holies to make atonement for sin before the Lord (Leviticus 23:26-32, Hebrews 9:11-15)
Feast of Tabernacles – Succoth: The people build temporary booths (tents) and live in them for seven days as they gather and rest to remember how the Israelites lived as nomads after the Lord delivered them from Egypt (Leviticus 23:33-44)
Passover: The people sacrifice a lamb and share a meal with their family as they remember how the Lord delivered them from the final plague of the death of the firstborn in Egypt and how this led to their deliverance from Pharaoh (Leviticus 23:4-5)
Unleavened Bread – Chag HaMatzot: For seven days, the children of Israel eat no leavened bread. On the first and last days, the people gather and do no “regular work” to remember how quickly they left Egypt (Leviticus 23:6-8)
Feast of First Fruits: On the first day after Passover, the children of Israel brought the first fruits of the spring harvest to the Lord as an offering to remind them who provided the harvest and who determines the outcomes (Leviticus 23:9-14)
Pentecost – Shavuot – Feast of Weeks: as the children of Israel brought the first fruits of the spring harvest, they also set aside a day to lay the first fruits of the summer harvest at the alter and then rest (Leviticus 23:15-22)
In these feasts or holidays, the Lord instructs His people to gather and do “no regular work” (Leviticus 23:7 ESV). From the beginning, God built a cadence of rest into His economy to remind us that we need to rest in Him. We are so quick to forget that we do not rely on our own strength, but our every breath is from the Lord. Western culture has been built on ingenuity, self-determination, grit, and hard work. These things are good and wonderful characteristics in moderation, but when they become the idols we bow to, our lives reflect the imbalance.
As we enter this summer season, take time to remember what God has done for us, the blessings from Him that we enjoy, the family and friends who surround us, and don’t forget to rest!
FaithNet Connect 
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