Will I have enough to live?  Will Social Security be secure?  Where will I live?  How do I remain active and useful?  What’s next?  Retirement, whatever it means, is an enigma.   And most are not prepared for it.    Yes, perhaps you have enrolled in a 401k or contributed to a Roth IRA.  Or maybe you have lived frugally and guarded against debt.   And if you are in your middle years, you may have researched how and when to begin social security benefits and Medicare. 

For many, retirement is seen as the principal reward for decades of daily work.  And then when that day arrives, suddenly the people, the purposes, and the routines of daily life disappear without a trace.    Researchers tell us that retirement ranks one of the most stressful life events.  And for those who do not embrace a new vocation, retirement is often one of the most deadly.  Have you planned for the vocation of rest?  Most have not.

Rest is no mere radical departure from productive work.  It has its own productive, positive character.  Every athlete understands that rest is as much a part of successful training as exertion.  The principle of the Sabbath in scripture is meant to instruct us that rest is not merely “from” but “unto.”  Productive rest is one of the most prominent features of the Old Testament calendar. 

The weekly Sabbaths, the Feast cycle, the command for Sabbatical years, and the year of Jubilee are a radical statement of the “yearning in the heart of God toward this happy time” of rest with and for his people.  It stands as a witness to a time will come when “there shall be no more curse.”  When the work that causes sweat to trail from our brow will cease.   And creation will no longer groan but will be delivered “into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” 

A calendar structured around rest was even more radical in the ancient world than it is today.   But the rest commanded for Israel was meant to be purposeful not idle.  To teach the people to lay aside the grip of the curse, embrace the rest of worship, fellowship, and growth, and trust in God to provide both in the years of labor as well as the year of rest.  

We often use the word sabbatical to mean simply to take a break from something or someone.  “I am going to take a sabbatical from social media for a while.”   But the word, drawn from the instructions given in Leviticus 25 and elsewhere in the Old Testament, means much more than taking “a break.”  It is to be a time of productive, intentional rest.  A sabbatical is a time of laying down, taking up, and trusting more.  It should be a time of active, fertile growth in worship, fellowship, and faith.  It is a gracious time God built into the life of his ancient people bring the best, most restful kind of rest.  And point to the ultimate rest he has purposed for us in Christ.

How are you resting?  This is every counselor’s question. Are you resting? Really resting?  Have you learned to lay aside the grip of the curse, embrace the rest of worship, fellowship, and growth, and trust God to provide both in labor as rest?  Join us as we examine Leviticus 25 and consider God’s instruction for the Sabbatical year and the year of Jubilee. We meet on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.