I am usually quite tired on the Sabbath. Although it is a day where I do not have to deal with work, and my wife's to-do list must take a break, I still feel the lingering exhaustion from the activities of the week. It is much more than just physical exhaustion; I am also spiritually tired. Satan and this world are not kind. We live in a world that hates the truth, and it can feel like what small measure of spiritual strength we may have quickly depletes throughout the week.

My mother died from cancer five years ago. Thankfully, I am not overly weighed down by it as I was in the past, but naturally, I still think about it. I reflect on that time now and then, realizing that it was an incredibly difficult and tiring time of my life. On the night of her death, I did not sleep more than a couple hours, if at all. It was certainly not energizing sleep. I slept because my body could not stay awake any longer. That night was also incredibly spiritually taxing, which is news to no one who has experienced the death of a loved one.

This exhaustion, however, became a crucial moment for me. It is when I realized just how much I needed something more than just physical rest. I needed God's rest.

Exodus 20:8-11 is a good starting point in examining this rest:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Pointing to this text, the fourth commandment, is obviously not revealing any secrets about God's rest. We keep it every week. We know what it is about. Leviticus 23:3 adds more insight:

Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

Many translations of this verse state that the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, which is accurate. However, the New King James' rendering that the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest helps me to understand what God means. Solemn means "very serious or formal," which helps define the attitude we must have in truly keeping the Sabbath. This does not imply that we cannot laugh or express a sense of humor on the Sabbath, but it does tell us that we are to take God's Sabbath seriously.

Raised in the faith, I routinely kept the Sabbath and went to church. After my mom's death, though, I went from relying on my parents' teachings on how to keep it to God brutally reminding me that the responsibility for keeping it ultimately fell on me. He helped me to understand not only the letter of the commandment but the spirit behind it as well. That is when the pieces started to come together.

At this point, I had already developed the habits of not playing video games, not turning on the TV to watch a show, and not wanting to ride my dirt bike, but that is where my understanding stopped. Those kinds of habits are easy to develop. The more difficult part is making the effort to channel zeal into the entire day of the Sabbath and not just when we come to church, assuming we are already fully invested in what church fellowship and worship provides.

As the commandment reads, the Sabbath is set apart and holy, sanctified by God. The entire day should consist of our spending our time and energy on prioritizing God and worshipping Him. Perhaps this is why the commandment begins with "remember." In this distracting world, we must be frequently reminded that the whole day focuses on God.

God comments on our Sabbath focus in Isaiah 58:13-14 (New English Translation Bible):

You must serve the Sabbath rather than doing anything you please on My holy day. You must look forward to the Sabbath and treat the LORD's holy day with respect. You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities, and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals. Then you will find joy in your relationship to the LORD, and I will give you great prosperity, and cause crops to grow on the land I gave to your ancestor Jacob. Know for certain that the LORD has spoken.

Obviously, God should always be a priority in our lives, but on His Sabbath day, though our drives are to serve ourselves rather than God, He wants all our thoughts to be directed toward Him and His way. He abundantly rewards our efforts to turn from our own desires and focus on Him. While the effort required to set aside a whole day just for Him may feel extreme at times, it does not mean it must be taxing. In fact, Isaiah 58:14 says we will find joy or delight (NKJV) in it.

Perhaps, like many, I have tried convincing myself that sleeping in, slowly drinking my coffee while sitting on the couch scrolling through my phone for hours, then going to church, was keeping the Sabbath. It can quickly turn into a day where I attempt to do nothing and claim that it is the big break from the world God gave us. That is certainly not delighting myself in the Lord.

The Sabbath is a break from our labors; Exodus 20:9 says so. God gave His Sabbath rest to us as a gift because He knows how much we need it. However, while we work through the first six days of the week to provide for our families and improve our skills and prospects, the Sabbath provides an opportunity to stop (the root meaning of the Hebrew word shabbat) and lean fully on God, prioritizing the nurturing and development of our relationship with Him—a far more eternal and profitable endeavor.

In Mark 2:27-28, Jesus says something very profound in this vein: "And He said to [the Pharisees], ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.'" As John Ritenbaugh wrote in a 2008 Forerunner Personal titled "The Fourth Commandment," verse 27 brings out a few vital facets of the Sabbath. For one, God created the Sabbath as a specific service to humanity or "on account of man." In addition, since it is linked in Genesis 2:1-3 to the seventh day of creation, God designed the Sabbath to support people as they undergo their spiritual transformation into His image.

The Sabbath cannot be a day just for physical rest since that could be accomplished on any other day. Its separation from other days implies that God's purpose for it is far more important. This hit home when I noticed just how much effort—spiritual work—is required to focus on God and avoid and put down my carnal self and desires.

I also realized that it is a gift from God to have the ability to do so. Remembering this every Sabbath, not just the ones that come during difficult times, takes a lot of conscious effort. However, once I understood and acted on it, not only did God give me rest, He also gave me His rest. When we strive to be more like Him and remove all the trying distractions around us, giving God the full attention and devotion He not only requires of us but also deserves, He gives us His glorious promises in return. Notice Isaiah 56:1-2:

Thus says the LORD: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."

God promises so much to those who are completely devoted to Him. Isaiah 58:11, 14 reads:

The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fall. . . . [D]elight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth . . .."

When we understand and act on the proper effort required to focus on God on His Sabbath, and not on our carnal selves and desires, He gives us more abundant rest than we could ever imagine. So, on the Sabbath day, delight yourselves in the Lord, and let Him cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth.