Antibodies for Anxiety: Four Steps to Sabbath Rest
Editor’s Note: The following article was originally written for sabbath under COVID-19 quarantine restrictions, and has since been edited to apply to everyday life.
When I consider everything going on these days and everything there is for church leaders to do, it doesn’t feel like I have permission to rest. Furthermore, I feel that I don’t deserve to rest.
And yet, that is exactly the invitation God is extending to us right now. In fact, he is commanding it. In the midst of chaos and crisis, God commands us to rest. Not because of what we’ve accomplished, not because we deserve it, but because of who we are and whose we are. God is inviting you and me to Sabbath.
…God is and always has been radically in control.
It’s in submitting to this command to stop that we can finally build up our immunity to anxiety and remind ourselves that, in the midst of uncertainty, unfinished tasks, incomplete initiatives, and unsaved souls, God is and always has been radically in control.
Isaiah’s words ring especially true right now: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength…” Isaiah 30:15 (NIV)
This verse has reminded me lately of Sabbath’s being all about identity. Sabbath was given to Israel to redefine who they were. As slaves in Egypt, they had no permission to rest. As God’s free people, they were finally told to take a break, not because of a job well done but because of to whom they belonged. The Sabbath provided a weekly rhythm meant to reinforce that God acted mightily and miraculously to rescue them, that God was leading them even though they didn’t know exactly where they were headed, and that God would provide for them every step of the way.
Sabbath is our identity today, too. Sabbath is a physical reminder that we have been radically saved by the completed and finished work of Jesus. He has fully secured our eternal rest. We don’t have to finish the work because God has been working long before us—and will be working long after us—to bring his kingdom to earth.
Sabbath is a physical reminder that we have been radically saved by the completed and finished work of Jesus.
So, how do we properly rest in Sabbath? With great care and intentionality. I'm indebted to Pete Scazzero and his great work on this topic, much of which this article is directly based on. Highlighting the simple (but challenging) framework from his book The Emotionally Healthy Leader, I invite you to frame your Sabbath around the practices of stopping, resting, delighting, and contemplating.
Stop.
This is the hardest principle, so we will spend a little time here. To really lean into the gift of Sabbath in its intended blessing, we must stop all paid and unpaid work—follow-up conversations, daily chores, dinging inboxes, two-hour grocery lines, unread messages, and anything else that means “work” to you in this season. This takes intentionality in the best of circumstances, and in times of stress this effort increases. Plan to stop. Schedule it with the same dedication and excitement that you do the other things in your life that you would never miss. Resist the voice of culture that tells you it all must be done.
For my family, this means that the day before Sabbath is the day we do laundry, grocery shopping, budget conversations, online orders, meal-planning, and inbox-clearing. We build our other weekly work tasks so that we have enough time to build a wall between the workweek and our Sabbath day. As an extra layer of structure, we are going to start experimenting with something that Scazzero and many other writers recommend as a way to signal the start of Sabbath: lighting a candle and having family prayer. This might look different for you, but find a way to separate time. Choose your own adventure.
Rest.
The notion of resting can be enough to make me cringe, but the invitation God gives us here is to do nothing. Be unproductive. Take a nap. Slow down. Just be. Honestly, this Sabbath practice has given me panic attacks, which is probably a decent sign that I need it. Use this time to recharge. Your batteries are likely lower than they have been in a long time. Unwrap this gift, and just chill out for a bit. What could be more counter-cultural than giving ourselves permission to do nothing with so much yet to do?
Delight.
I have a pastor friend that used to say people who work with their minds should Sabbath with their hands. Living in NYC, I have had to get creative with this and have ended up spending most of my time in the kitchen. At other times I’ve done photography, played music, or worked on small-scale building projects. Different things have served me in different seasons.
This is a time to pick up things that bring you life and joy. What do you love to do? Do that. Experiment by learning something new. Read a great book (that doesn’t teach you anything), enjoy some incredible food, and catch up with friends. Find something to delight in!
Contemplate.
Scazzero writes, “Sabbath is an invitation to see the invisible in the visible—to see the hidden ways God is at work in our lives.” He goes on to say that, “for a brief moment in time, we reorient ourselves away from this world in all its brokenness and anticipate the world to come—how things are meant to be.”
Sabbath isn’t Sabbath without some intentional focus on God and his goodness towards us. Spend some time ruminating on what it means that God has already provided rest for your soul and that you are complete in him. Contemplate God’s delight in you simply because of who you are, not what you do. Reflect on how the gospel proves to us that because of what Jesus accomplished for us, each and every promise God has for us is “yes and amen.”
Stop. Rest. Delight. Contemplate. Sabbath has been given to us as an antidote to anxiety. I pray that we will accept God’s invitation to trust in his unparalleled goodness, that we will engage in the counter-cultural practice of Sabbath as resistance, and that in doing so we will find new salvation and rest for our souls. I’ll leave you with what Mark Buchanan, in The Rest of God, submits as Sabbath’s golden rule: “Cease from what is necessary. Embrace that which gives life.”
Grace and peace to you.
About the Author
In 2014, Danny and Danielle Best moved to New York City to plant and serve a church on the Upper West Side. With backgrounds not only in ministry but in the arts and entertainment industries, their love for the people and culture of NYC has only deepened over time. In their downtime, you can find them checking out the latest neighborhood eats or hanging out in the park with their daughter, Vivian.