A typical Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday evening as Jews
celebrate the Sabbath from sunset on Friday night to sunset on Saturday. There is much preparation that goes into
making sure that the meals are prepared and all the household appliances that
are not allowed to be used are switched off.
The preparation also includes bathing and dressing and preparing for the
day as though a special guest was arriving. (Is Jesus the special guest in your worship?).
There are many prayers and rituals throughout the day, most
memorably to me the lighting of two candles prior to sunset representing the
two commandments: Zakhor (remember) and
Shamor (observe). This process is so
significant to me as how many times haven’t we heard or said, forgive and
forget. Yet here God calls Israel to
observe and remember. God’s desire is
that we overcome the slavery of our past hurts not by forgetting them, neither
by building a memorial to them but rather by honouring the part they played in
our victory and freedom in Christ.
When we try to forget, all we do is give the devil a place
to build a stronghold in our lives.
Rather we should seek the anointing of the Holy Spirit to heal those
memories and then honour them as being part of our past and then move forward.
I believe when we learn the art of forgiveness God’s way, we
will find the rest, relaxation and refreshing that comes with the Sabbath. God’s desire for us in celebrating the
Sabbath is to receive strength so that we can live overcoming, victorious
lives!
No comments:
Post a Comment