On Sunday 12th July, I was invited to speak at my Church’s online service To hear the fill message, please visit the page here. Otherwise, please read and reflect on this overview.
If you were asked to describe your lockdown experience, what kind of words would you use?
For me, it was a lockdown of two parts:
- PART ONE: Tears & tantrums, but I don’t need to elaborate!
- PART TWO: Recognising SHMITA
Literally, before lockdown had even started, I was already anxious about how I thought I would cope, living on my own! But, at some point in those early stages, my perspective changed. Instead of fighting against what was happening, I chose to see this as a God-given opportunity.
We already know God is not flustered by 2020. He knew about covid, and the global lockdown before the word pandemic was even thought up. He knew and wasn’t fazed, though we were thrown by what was happening. We already know God is more than able to calm the storm and still the chaos, and we know God has a plan and a purpose for our lives…. So, what if God ordained 2020 as your SHABBAT YEAR?
Shabbat is a Hebrew word which literally means:
A time to rest; to pause; to catch our breath and wait on God.
Before March 23rd, if your diary was anything like mine, it was busy. Packed with places to be, people to see, things to do, deadlines to meet. Time to pack for this conference, or that event… it wasn’t unheard of for me to have a couple of hours at home to unpack one suitcase, and repack for a different event. Or to come home from one trip, and go straight into another meeting.
- What was your normal?
- Do you look back and realise it was too much?
- Had you become a slave to your schedule, diary and other expectations, to the point you didn’t seem to have time to do the things you really wanted to do?
- Enslaved, in your own personal Egypt?
As lockdown lifts… are you planning to return to Egypt? Or has this caused you to reflect on what is actually important, and see there is a different way to live? If this is God’s ordained SHABBAT YEAR, will you go back to filling your time with everything except God, or His plans and purposes for your life?
Because there are some people reading this, who had dreams of things you wanted to do, the person you wanted to be, as you walked with God. But as you became busy with life, those dreams were packed away and put on a shelf, ready for “one day”.
There are others, and you know you’ve drifted from God. You’re not where you thought you would be. You started off the year, like every year, promising to pray more, read the Bible more, be braver as you followed what you believe God was leading you to do…. But then, life.
So, God, in His infinite grace, mercy, and love hit the pause button.
- You asked Him for more time to be with Him
- You asked Him for more time to do the things you think He has called you to do
- You asked him for the space to be able to find peace in Him
He heard. He responded. He hit the pause button and said, “OK. Let’s do this together. Come to Me, I can see you are weary, and I will give you rest.”
Hebrews 4:1 says, “While the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.”
Isaiah 40:31 says, “those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength…”
Hebrews 4:9 says, “So then, there remains a SHABBAT REST for the people of God. For whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from His works as God did from His.”
Which is a reference to Genesis 2:1-3, “And on the seventh day, God finished His work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy…”
I heard a message earlier in the week, I think it was by Lisa Harper, and she described God resting like this: For six days, God had spoken. He had created the world, and everything in it, having spoken it into being. When you speak, you breath out. A lot. So, on the 7th day, when God rested, He caught His breath. He literally took a deep breath in.
Sabbath is not a request. It’s a command. It’s one of the ten commandments, to be precise. What if you were to count all the weeks where you didn’t really take a Shabbat. Where you didn’t actually stop from your work, but kept going. How many days would you be in debt? So far, the lockdown is like just over two years in owed Shabbat.
When we see it like that, lockdown is no longer about the Government restrictions, or covid-19. It’s about being in obedience to God.
1 Samuel 15: 22 says, “…to obey is better than sacrifice…”
By disobeying God’s command to take a Sabbath rest, is to place ourselves above God. He made the Sabbath for us, not us for the Sabbath. Meaning, there is a benefit to resting from work, and catching our breath, just as God did.
Just as Jesus often did. He often withdrew away from the crowd by Himself. To pray, to spend time with the Father, hearing where He should go, or what He should do next. In those times, He was renewed, refreshed, strengthened and empowered.
The Bible also describes laws around the Sabbath Year, a Shmita (literally, seventh), when the land was supposed to rest. For the Jewish people, Shmita wasn’t about sitting around doing nothing. Whilst it is an agricultural requirement, people use the time they would normally spend working, doing those activities they don’t have time to do:
- To connect with God
- To spend time with their family – extended, not just immediate – and friends.
- To study – not just the Scriptures, but for personal development too
- To develop their skills/talents/giftings
- To do those things around the house which never seem to get done.
So, part two of my lockdown, became my Shmita. I focused on developing my skills as a writer, both professionally, by completing my CPD points, and personally, by entering competitions. I built a sofa out of pallets for the garden, and tackled other areas to make it an outdoor room. I updated my bedroom; and started to enjoy being at home.
- WHAT IF God has a new skill He wants to develop in you?
- WHAT IF He wants to stir up a new gifting?
- WHAT IF He wants to give you a deeper revelation of Himself, through the study of His Word?
As we walk into a new season. A season of freedom, after restrictions are lifted, or going back to normal, however you want to see it, let me leave you with these questions:
- How will the rest of your Shabbat Year look?
- Will you return to a life enslaved to business?
- or will you start to enjoy Shabbat Rest with God?
youcantslouchinheels 