The Sabbath = Delight? No Way … Or Is it?
(Click Here to Listen to the Podcast Interview with Travis West)
“If you … call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable … then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you to ride on the heights of the earth.”
Is 58:13-14
Hi friends,
Welcome to Week 7 of our Sanctuary Stirrings Spring Series. This transformational topic has been speaking to me for quite some time. I can't wait to hear how it speaks to you!
The Sabbath = Delight? No Way ... Or Is It?
The prophet Isaiah gives us a surprising invitation:
“The prophet Isaiah reminds us that God longs for us to ‘call the Sabbath a delight.’ Delight is such a powerful word ... But I never heard “Sabbath” and “delight” in the same sentence growing up … If it was about anything, it was about not doing things.” Travis West, The Sabbath Way
It’s a story as old as time. God comes with a precious gift for His people, and the enemy is right on His heels to steal, kill, and destroy everything He meant it to be.
That’s exactly what happened way back in the second chapter of Genesis.
God created the world in six days, and on the seventh, He presented a gift to all of creation—an entire day each week to rest, worship, enjoy community, and delight in all He had made.
Later, in the Ten Commandments—God’s foundational instruction to His people—we find the Sabbath again, right in the first section oriented to our relationship with Him:
You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol.
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
And yet, the Sabbath is misunderstood or completely missing from our context today.
Non-Christians don’t treat it any differently than any other day of the week. And Christians know that it’s one of the Ten Commandments, but are often confused about what to do with it.
There’s been a lot of controversy, with questions like:
Was it only meant for the people of the Old Testament?
Does it still apply to believers today?
Is it tied to legalistic rules—the law that Jesus’ death freed us from?
Or is it an eternal gift that began with Adam and Eve, meant for all time?
Many of us have heard so many conflicting perspectives from theologians we respect that we’ve quietly set it aside.
But something in us keeps whispering:
“I think there is a gift here that God intends for us to receive… and we’re missing it.”
That’s why I was so excited to record this week’s podcast conversation with my guest, Travis West, about his new book, The Sabbath Way: Making Room for Rest, Connection, and Delight.
Click Here to Watch the Interview on YouTube
A Personal Story
It took me back 41 years to when I moved to Holland, Michigan.
College—here I come!
I’d never lived in the Bible Belt before. My sister and I were the only two born-again Christians in our high school. Those who lived in our community weren’t living from a Christian worldview.
We only had one tiny Christian AM radio station (if you carefully dialed, on a good day you might catch a contemporary Christian song), one 1,500-square-foot Christian bookstore (with a small assortment of Bibles, gospel tracts, and maybe an Amy Grant, Imperials, or Petra album if you were lucky), and only two or three small Christian colleges far away in remote areas of the state.
I was ecstatic when I heard about Hope College, a large, respected liberal arts Christian college in Holland, Michigan.
With so few Christians in the community I grew up in, I wanted to be completely up-front with my newly assigned roommate about my personal relationship with Jesus. In my first letter, I told her I was a born-again Christian—and braced myself.
When she wrote back and said, “Me, too!”—I thought it was a miracle.
But nothing could have prepared me for what I experienced when I arrived.
Everyone I met was a “Christian.” There were three Christian FM radio stations, huge Christian bookstores, churches on every corner that 90% of the population attended, and all the businesses were closed on Sundays.
Earnest Dutch Christian Reformed immigrants had settled this area in the mid-1800s and poured their hearts, souls, and faith into every fiber of the community.
Most of the students had grown up in this context. They’d been introduced to Jesus in elementary school or even younger, attended church every Sunday (morning and evening) and on Wednesday nights, and had family devotions around the dinner table.
In this conservative Christian Reformed context, the Sabbath was taken very seriously.
Sunday was for going to church, taking a nap, and having a meal together. Work was forbidden. Neighbors who did yard work were looked down upon. Even enjoyable activities—like going to the beach, riding a bike, or playing ball—were discouraged. Playing cards were associated with gambling and considered “of the devil.”
A Common, Yet Unfortunate Occurrence
This religious bondage was foreign to me. It was wonderful that people were introduced to Jesus at a young age, regularly read their Bible, and took the Commandments seriously, but there was a lack of joy and an oppression that I couldn’t figure out at first.
But this isn’t anything new.
From the time God gave the Sabbath to Adam and Eve to when Jesus walked the earth, it had become deeply distorted. Over time, Jewish leaders created 39 categories of activity that were forbidden on the Sabbath, along with hundreds of additional rules, including everything from gardening, baking, cooking, weaving, writing, erasing, kindling a fire, and carrying objects.
When I arrived in Holland, many sincere believers were so bound by sabbath rules that there was no shred of God’s original gift anywhere to be found. And for those who have experienced or grown up in this kind of legalism, it’s no wonder they want nothing to do with it.
Back to the Original
God never meant for the Sabbath to look like this. He created it to be a day filled with overflowing delight and freedom!
Like my guest, Travis West, who was set free from this oppressive system, wrote,
“The “sabbath is … a gift to be received rather than a commandment to be obeyed… A sabbath of ‘thou shalt nots” leaves little room for delight… The Sabbath’s true power is to reconnect you with what makes you feel most alive.” The Sabbath Way
As human beings, we love to make rules. Like barnacles that attach themselves to the clean hull of a ship, it is not unusual for us to corrupt the pure gifts of God over time.
We regularly need to circle back and scrape off those choking barnacles with God’s help—so we can sail freely again over the open waters He intended!
An Invitation
In all the confusion and misuse, if you’ve placed this gift of God on the shelf …
Open your heart.
Search the scriptures anew
Listen to the podcast
Order a copy of the book
And receive the precious gift God provided for YOU on that very first week of Creation!
I’ll be right there too.
Click Here to Listen to the Interview with Travis →
Resources Worth Noticing:
Travis-West.com to find more information about Travis, the sabbath, and slowing your life down to the speed of love.
The Sabbath Way: Making Room for Rest, Connection, and Delight by Travis West. Rediscover the Sabbath as a transformative rhythm meant to shape not just one day, but an entire way of life.
The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel … A Sabbath classic and Travis’ top pick
Journey with a Giant: Choose Your Guide, Pursue Your Purpose, and Grow in Your Walk with God by Lori G. Melton. Take the next step in your spiritual formation and embark on a year-long journey alongside a giant of the faith, inspired by the author’s year learning from the life of Mister Fred Rogers, America’s Favorite Neighbor.
Worth Remembering:
“Sabbath is the presence of God in the world, open to the soul of man.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath
So thankful to be journeying together.
Savoring the Savior,
Lori