«Blessed are all those who are careful to do this.
Blessed are those who honor my Sabbath days of rest’ (Isaiah 56:2, NLT).
EVERY DAY new studies are published that continue to confirm the close relationship between health and worship. It is proven that people who attend religious services at least once a week or more, and regularly pray and study the Bible, are forty percent less likely to suffer from hypertension. Why is that? Because as human beings we were created to make a renovating pause every week and enter into the realm of the sacred. Therefore, the Lord has given us the fourth commandment: «Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work» (Exodus 20:8-10, NIV).
God has given us the Sabbath as a cure for the overwhelming stress to which we are subject throughout the week. The Sabbath is God’s antidote to anxiety. Additional research has brought to light that a good weekly worship experience reduces blood pressure, decreases arthritis pain, and lessens the likelihood of heart disease. All this can be prevented by following God’s command!
The prophet Isaiah had already said it many centuries before: «Blessed are those who honor my Sabbath days» (Isaiah 56:2, NLT). Later on, the same prophet states, » ‘If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.’ For the mouth of the Lord has spoken» (Isaiah 58:13, 14, NIV).
The Sabbath is not a day of restrictions. In fact, «those who think of the Sabbath as a burden have not discovered its true meaning and value.» God has given us the Sabbath so that we may experience joy here, and so that very soon we may go to heaven and «feast on the inheritance» the Lord is preparing for us forever. In the meantime, let’s continue to enjoy the Sabbath here on earth.
Happy Sabbath!
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2023
“I AM WITH YOU”
From: J. VLADIMIR POLANCO
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Angelica Cuate
