ON SABBATH

When I am not obligated otherwise on a Friday evening, I invite members of my church family over for a spaghetti dinner.  The tradition is to gather around the table, after reading a Psalm of blessing to God, we take turns "blessing" the person to our right.

After everyone left, this past Friday night, I found a note left by one of the little girls who had been there.  This makes my heart do the "pitter-patter".

On Sunday it will take all of 30 seconds for some companies to spend 3 million.  This year, NBC admits it has been more difficult this year to sell all the advertising spots for the Super Bowl but think they will have them done just in time.  Let’s review:  Someone is willing to pay 3 million for 30 seconds of your attention. Okay so maybe that’s not the price tag for just you, or just me.  I realize that the 3 million is spread out over almost 100 million viewers.  But even still, that means someone is paying $35 dollars for 30 seconds of my time.  This kind of price tag is actually supported Biblically.

God seeking to place a value on our attention gave us not a castle on a hill, or the latest and greatest, but instead gave us what transcends time, time itself.  The Sabbath, given to us on our first full day of existence was a gift, a mansion of time. In Isaiah 58:13, God calls for our riveted attention on the Sabbath and then in verse 14 tells us the value of this time:

Then you shall take delight in the LORD,

and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;

I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Dr. Richard Davidson, professor at the Adventist Theological Seminary, points out that the word “delight” used in Isaiah is a Hebrew word used only to describe the adoration of princes and princesses. 

The Sabbath, a gift of time, was the way God thought to honor who He considers royalty.