March 21

Day 7: As of last night we are now discouraged from non-essential travel, and public schools are closed through the end of April.

It looks like I won't be volunteering 2 weekends in May to direct high school track meets. I'm okay with that. I may not hit MVP Gold. I'm not quite so okay with that.

You may be asking, "What is God doing in this?"

Exodus 31:13 says, "You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, 'Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you.'"

Our God created each of us to need and to enjoy resting in Him, taking a breather from work and the busyness of life to refocus on Who Jesus is and What He has done. In the observance of Sabbath, He is "sanctifying us," meaning, He is setting us apart as a different kind of people, with a different set of priorities, and different set of values, a different source of trust. Sabbath refocuses God's people on God.

However, and not unlike the ancient people of God, we're not very good at "Sabbathing." Instead, we're prone to want to drown out the white noise of our fears with activity and worry. This week a friend of mine said that "Worry is nothing more than praying to ourselves."

In times past, the Lord saw the disobedience of His people, and so He "forced" Sabbath on them. The people had not rested for generations, and they had not allowed their farmland to rest, for decades if not centuries. So God did it to/for them. He banished them off into foreign captivity...so the Promised Land could rest, even when the people refused to do so.

2 Chronicles 36: 20-21 says, "He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him (the king) and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, UNTIL THE LAND HAD ENJOYED ITS SABBATHS (emphasis mine.) All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years." (This was one year for every seven-year period of time Sabbath had been ignored.)

To me, the Scriptures are consistent. To keep working without a regular break is to disobey the Sabbath commandment, and to ignore how we were created. To worry that we're not working enough is to announce to ourselves and others that we do not trust our God to protect and provide.

So what has the Lord done in our C-19 day, this past week? Perhaps he has graciously overlooked our ignorance, our willful sin, and forced a Sabbath season on all of us.

I'm praying that Radiant Church Juneau will emerge from this season more worshipful, more prayerful, more devoted to Scripture, and more aware of the commandment and the blessing of reserving a regular Sabbath rest.

And right now, we're not even limited to the weekend.

-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church | Juneau