How often have you looked at what’s pressing in your life and said, “There just aren’t enough hours in the day”? Or responded to an invitation with, “I’m sorry; I don’t have time”? Or looked at the clock in disbelief and wondered, “Where did the day go?”
We live in a time-crunched society where it seems every hour is spoken for. But when this world was created, that hectic cycle was never the plan. In the Bible we read that God created the earth in six days and on the seventh day, He rested.[1] And He invites us to follow the same pattern.
A weekly day of rest can seem impractical at times. The temptation is strong to use every available day to get things done, to get ahead, or—more often—to catch up. God, who created both the world and us, knows we probably wouldn’t take a day off if He didn’t designate one for us. We call it the Sabbath, a word that means “to rest.” But it’s more than just a break from our labors. In addition to resting on the seventh day, God also blessed it, sanctified it, and made it holy.[2] And He asks us to keep it holy,[3] because even more than relaxation, we need holiness. After caring so diligently for earthly concerns, we need a day to care for the needs of the soul. After six days of the worries and work of the world, we need a day of heaven.
So in our places of worship, we set aside the cares of the world and feel the support of fellow believers. In quiet moments of studying the word of God, we reinforce our faith. In prayer and meditation, we reconnect with God. And in loving service to family and friends, we remind ourselves of what really matters.
In all of these ways, the Sabbath day realigns us with the divine, and we enter the new week a new person with a new perspective. Nineteenth-century minister Henry Ward Beecher said it this way: “A world without a Sabbath would be like a [person] without a smile, like a summer without flowers, and like a homestead without a garden. It is the joyous day of the whole week.”
[1] See Genesis 2:1–2.
[2] See Genesis 2:3.
[3] See Exodus 20:8.
__________________________________
April 23, 2023
Broadcast Number 4,884
The Tabernacle Choir
Orchestra at Temple Square
BYU-Idaho Collegiate Singers
Conductor
Mack Wilberg
Organist
Andrew Unsworth
Host
Lloyd Newell
Come, Ye Children of the Lord
Spanish melody; Arr. Mack Wilberg
If the Savior Stood beside Me
Sally DeFord; Arr. Sam Cardon
Prelude on “Little David, Play on Your Harp”
African American spiritual; Arr. Andrew Unsworth
Give Glory to His Honored Name
George Frideric Handel
Come to My Garden, from The Secret Garden
Lucy Simon; Arr. Kurt Bestor
On This Day of Joy and Gladness
Leroy J. Robertson; Arr. Mack Wilberg
Redeemer of Israel
Freeman Lewis; Arr. Mack Wilberg