From the very beginning, God taught His chosen people how to order their lives around Him in every possible way. He carefully instructed them through Moses, teaching them how to live holy lives so He could bless them as much as possible. He knew the temptations they would face. Even more, He knew the fickleness of their hearts.
He gave them boundaries, wisdom, and direction about almost everything. He directed them to give their land a Sabbath rest every seven years, He told them very specifically which animals they could and could not eat, when and how to wash their hands, when and with what to make their offerings to Him, and what to do when people had infections. He also commanded them to observe not only a weekly Sabbath, but appointed festivals throughout the year where they would rest from their labors and remember Him.
Their whole lives were to be planned around their devotion to Him. He did not need this from them. On the contrary, He knew this is what they needed – to be taught how to keep Him at the center of their lives and thoughts.
God was very specific and repetitive about how to observe the Sabbath. He told the people to set it aside as a day of complete rest for them individually, but also for their entire household, including servants, foreigners, and even their animals. This practice was to be passed down purposefully from generation to generation, serving as a consistent reminder of the covenant between God and the Israelites. It was to be a day of remembering all God had done bringing them out of captivity; a day of actively trusting in His provision by obeying the command to rest.
“Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:15 NLT).
Resting, for the Israelites, was an act of worshipful remembrance. It was an act of faith declaring to themselves and the culture around them who their real Provider was. It declared that the Israelites were created in the image of God, because
He made the world in six days and rested on the seventh.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are no longer under the Law of the Old Testament. Jesus clearly stated that He is Lord, even over the Sabbath, and that the Sabbath is for the people, not the people for the Sabbath. He made it clear that God wants our hearts, not just our Sundays.
It is still extremely wise to plan our lives and schedules around our devotion to God. Left to our own, we are also just as weak and fickle as the Israelites, and need those boundary lines just as much as they did.
Ordering your entire life around your relationship with Jesus Christ is a process, and it looks different for different people. I have found that I just do not know myself as well as I once thought, and need to ask regularly in prayer how this time should look. God has been so faithful to show me. I continue to ask as the seasons of my life change. My time with Him while my children were toddlers looked very different than it does now.
The idea is that He is always the center of my schedule. I ask Him to help me keep Him there, so my relationship with Him can be the lens through which I see everything else.
Many people spend some time with Him in the morning. Another powerful way to set time apart for you and God is to take 4 hours one day on a weekend each quarter. This year, I am putting those days on the calendar, or they will just pass by. There are plenty of things to fill that space if I allow it. Retreats are always helpful. I am praying about how to take longer times of rest every few years, like a week every seven years (just an example). Some people have set times of prayer during the day.
Planning this time sometimes feels inconvenient, and even unreasonable. People want my time and attention, and they don’t understand when I cannot accommodate them. At times I feel unmotivated, as if the time apart won’t really make much of a difference anyway.
This, friend, is simply not true. Our time in God’s Presence is never, ever wasted.
I have decided to just trust the God of the
universe in this process. If He leads me to do something, He will provide what I need to do it. If I’m going the wrong direction, He’ll come get me and bring me back. Without Him, life is utterly without purpose or meaning. Without Him, I stray more quickly than I would like to admit. I am lured by temptations. I choose what is good instead of best. I choose what is bad because I want what I want right now. I choose to be bitter because I feel entitled. My heart and emotions deceive me.
I am weak. So weak. I really, truly, can do nothing without Him.
But then I remember! He is strong.
As with the Israelites, God wants us to make our relationship with Him a priority by having regular time with Him daily, weekly and throughout the year. He will give as much of Himself as we are willing to take. He stands at the door and knocks, but He never pushes His way in.
He longs for us to set apart time to be with just Him, not out of obligation or law, but out of love.
