“The people of Israel didn’t remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the power of all their enemies on every side.” Judges 8:34

 CEB Common English Bible with Apocrypha – ePub Edition (Kindle Locations 9133-9134). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.

  The book of Judges is a series of short stories. The Cliff Notes, if you will, of the Israelite people in their new land. We don’t have a lot of information in this series of short accounts. Their brevity helps us see a pattern. The people forget about the LORD. They forget that they are set apart. They forget that they have been delivered from their enemies. Then a judge is raised up and their enemies are vanquished. Then “peace ensues” as Shakespeare said. Then they forget the LORD, again. Why do they forget?   Is it the failure of the parents to teach their history? Is it the failure of the children to listen and take heed? Is it the success of the culture that the Israelites have mixed with steering them away from the Lord? All of these cultures that had different priorities, different rules and lower standards than God’s people.

In my first reading of this book I was a bit judgmental of the Israelites. How could they keep forgetting the Lord? How could they forget all the miracles? The Passover, Yom Kipppur, the Festival of Booths, all of these holy days were supposed to be practiced over and over so the people would not forget all the LORD had done. Of course there is Sabbath too, every week the Israelites are supposed to set aside one day to give to God, to build their faith in community, and to rest. But, things get in the way don’t they? Families move apart, work deadlines loom, household chores need to be completed, sports/movies/social events crowd out our time for God.

In my second reading of Judges, I saw the cycle of addiction that professional counselors talk about. The people love the LORD. Then they start choosing other things, drugs, alcohol, sex, work, food and slowly they push the LORD away. The mantra begins to play in our head, “More of me and less of you Lord” The Israelites are mixed with people who chant that mantra in the streets. Before you know it, mom and dad are sitting at home, waiting for you to come to dinner, waiting to pray and light the Sabbath candles with you, waiting to tell you the stories of who you are and where you came from. But you have forgotten your commitment. Your time has become consumed with the things of this world. The only thing that matters to you is right here, right now.

“They wouldn’t drop their bad practices or hardheaded ways.”

Judges 2:19 CEB

In my second reading of Judges, I pushed my own judgment into the dark corner of my mind and instead, I asked God…

“How could I forget you LORD? Show me what I have replaced you with LORD. Show me where I have forgotten you in my life. Show me where I missed an appointment with you LORD. Help me drop my bad practices and knock me in the head LORD.”

  There is a bad pattern in Judges; Love God, Forget God, Live in misery, God saves us, Live in Peace, Love God, Forget God…. Judges gives us a list of the number years that the people lived in misery and when they lived in peace. Look at the numbers and you will see these were lifetimes. Can you imagine living a lifetime in misery? far away from God? Everything revolving around what you want every moment?  Most of us, if we are lucky, get 80 or more years on this earth. Do you want to spend those years in misery? Living for the moment is good for “A” moment but it is not good for a lifetime. What if we can learn from this bad pattern now? What if we loved God and lived in peace? Then, years from now, when we tell our story, we can tell a story of faith, love, peace and joy rather than being the old guy at the end of the bar droning on and on about the past glory days. If we love God and live in peace now our story will be about the glory days ahead of us in the loving arms of our Savior.

“Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, but the LORD your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That’s why the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath day.” Deuteronomy 5:15 Common English Bible (CEB)

“When you eat, get full, build nice houses, and settle down, and when your herds and your flocks are growing large, you silver and your gold are multiplying and everything you have is thriving, don’t become arrogant, forgetting the LORD your God.”

Deuteronomy 8:12 (CEB)

“Don’t think to yourself, My own strength and abilities have produced all this prosperity for me. Remember the LORD your God!”

Deuteronomy 8:17-18 (CEB)

Good job carrying on Bible Pilgrims! We have entered Deuteronomy, a fun word to say, try it, I’ll wait…. This is not a chronological book, but a repeat, clarification and collection of important lessons from the Israelites journey, “A Greatest Hits” collection if you will.

As I read the “Big Ten” (commandments) again I was struck by a new idea of why the Sabbath is a gift.

  Having the freedom to rest on the Sabbath means we are not slaves to our bosses, to our schedules, to our routines.

This is a profound idea the notion that we have the option to do nothing. It means that every day is not just about how much we can produce. Taking a Sabbath for most of us is a choice and it means that we can cease from our regular routines to admire the work that we have done, to enjoy someone else’s work (like reading a book), and mostly to see all the work that God has done.

A few years ago, I started dabbling in gardening. I say dabbling, because I learned something,

weeds always grow,

they never STOP.

On a perfect weather day, I wanted to be outside. You know the deep blue sky, white puffy clouds, sweet smelling air, perfect kind of temperature day that pulls your body outside. I decided to weed a patch of my flower beds. I toiled for an hour on my knees, tugging and pulling. Of course as I was digging out weeds, I noticed that some plants needed to be relocated, so I gave them the eviction notice and moved them into their new digs. By this time, my back needed a good stretch and as I stood up my noggin hit a tree branch. I grabbed my pruners and started lopping off the low hanging branches.

The work never stopped!

Everywhere I looked there was something that could be done, improved, pruned, weeded. I was tired. It occurred to me that even as I was weeding other weeds were growing behind me in the other flower bed. The notion of how much work to do became OVERWHELMING. The beautiful day ceased for me and became a work day.  My body spoke to me, thankfully interrupting my stressful thoughts, I needed hydration. So, I paused and drank a glass of water on the porch. As I looked up at the trees, I admired the beauty of the Lord’s work. While I was working in my little corner of the world, God was creating all over the world.

What I learned about Sabbath that day was to pause and admire the work I had done so I could feel the pride of accomplishment. But, also to zoom out of my corner and to look at the bigger picture of all the work that God had done. The beauty of trees in bloom, the gentleness of a bad of grass, the smell of dirt. In that moment of Sabbath, I experienced the feeling of  joy in knowing it is all done out of love for us. While I was weeding, the world continued and God was working. While I was sleeping, God was answering someone’s prayer. While I was drinking a glass of water, somewhere rain was making the flowers bloom and more weeds grow.

While I was doing other things, 

God was taking care of ‘all the things!’

Sabbath is about spending time reflecting on how little we are and how big God is.

Moses offers us all a warning; when we have arrived at our intended destination, when we have achieved our goals, when our tummies and bank accounts are full, when our garden is thriving and beautiful, “don’t become arrogant.” Don’t think that we have done all of this work on our own. Sabbath called the Israelites back to Egypt (in their memories) and Sabbath calls us back to the front porch drinking the water God has made and looking at the beauty of God’s creation. This is why I say I dabble in gardening because I do not dare to think “…my own strength and abilities have produced all this prosperity for me.” That day, I chose to stay  on my porch observing Sabbath. I chose to rest from my labors and admire the work of God. The prayer that came to me in that quiet time was simple, “Thank  you Lord that I do not have to prune all the trees in the world.”