Our Sudden Sabbatical

We like to think that we are civilized people, here in the US in the 21st century. For the most part, we have been living busy, predictable lives. We work hard, and we play harder. Until just a few months ago, every minute of nearly every day has been scheduled, and we have been stressed by our ceaseless and, in our opinion, decidedly worthwhile activities.

Now, our stress is caused by something different: the uncertainty of these unexpected, unparalleled times. So many things have changed in just a short time: our job and school situations, our limited ability to travel or gather freely, our inability to seek services and products we once took for granted, and our sense of freedom and personal safety. Was it really only four months ago that our biggest concerns revolved around our families' activities and favorite sports teams? 

Now, we have been coerced to stay close to home and cooperate with new rules that have been totally foreign for most of us, until now. We don't like to practice social distancing, or wear masks, or shelter at home, in a world-wide effort to "flatten the curve," in hopes of slowing the progress of this occasionally-horrible disease that threatens to overwhelm our healthcare system. We aren't used to living in fear--fear of the virus, fear of change, fear of violence, and fear of government control. How spoiled we have been!

Here in America, we have been blessed to enjoy years of peaceful prosperity, interrupted from time to time by local catastrophes and faraway skirmishes, but in comparison to the chaotic lives of poverty-stricken people around the globe who have to struggle constantly with famine and extreme political unrest, and even mass genocide, most Americans have continued to prosper. Although homelessness has been an ongoing issue throughout our country, I haven't seen any reports of total destitution resulting in chronic nakedness and malnutrition. We are not perfect people, but we try hard to feed and clothe the poorest of the poor among us. 

All around our nation, for most of 2020, thousands of people have been sick and dying from the newest Corona virus. Taunting cries of racism have been heard again throughout our recently tranquil land. Peaceful protests have turned into violent riots, some say because of clandestine political motives. People have been killed, businesses have been destroyed, and cities have been devastated. Some politicians have become nastier than ever, if that is even possible. The media has turned to biased sensationalism, to the point that we don't know who or what to believe. Conspiracy theories abound, as they often do during periods of unrest in our world.

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In recent years, I've been reading and re-reading the Old Testament, and I've come to the conclusion that our current turmoil is nothing new. Since Adam and Eve first sinned in the Garden of Eden, people have been hurting and killing each other, coveting each others' stuff, and taking whatever they want.  Basically, God asked two things of his people: to love him and love the people around them. If you've read the Bible at all, you know how that turned out: over and over, God's people worshiped idols, and wiped out whole ethnic groups in their efforts to gain more land and make themselves rich.

God was patient with his people, the Israelites. He gave the Ten Commandments, and other specific laws, to Moses and the people, so they would know exactly what they needed to do, and recognize their total inability to keep the law perfectly. He sent prophets to tell them what would happen if they continued in their sinful ways. He gave them plenty of time to turn to him and repent--hundreds of years, in fact. Then, in his mercy, to help them see how much they needed him, he allowed the people to be conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar, and exiled to Babylon, where they stayed for 70 long years.

Why 70 years? Well, God had commanded that the Israelites take a day of rest on the seventh day of each week and, furthermore, every seventh year, they and their animals were to rest for the whole sabbatical year, growing no crops, and doing no work. Every 50th year was to be a year of Jubilee, another sabbatical year like each seventh year, which meant that they needed to trust God to provide for them for two consecutive years, the 49th and 50th years. During those God-given sabbatical years, they were to free their slaves, return property to its original owners, and worship God, celebrating his great love for them, and trusting him to provide everything they needed. 

Unfortunately, from the time Moses lead the Israelites in the wilderness, and throughout the following 490 years, the people were unable to trust God enough to observe a sabbatical year even once! It is interesting to see that the Israelites were exiled to Babylon for 70 years--one year for each sabbatical year they refused to take. After that, something amazingly unthinkable happened: throughout history, exiled people have always been absorbed into their new homelands, but God made it possible for the Israelites to return to their promised land, where they finally worshiped God instead of idols.

God has been patient with us, too, for many years, even when more and more people are leaving God out of their lives, and others, who profess to be Christians, don't really know him at all. For too long, we have worshiped our own idols: Hollywood stars and sports figures, wealth, instant gratification, technology, and family. God hasn't changed. He still wants his people to love him above all else, and love the people around us, as well. Could it be that God, in his mercy, is using the current pandemic to get our attention?

Have we been so wrapped up in our rushed, self-sufficient, extravagant lives that we only spend time with God when it is convenient, if at all? How often have we made him out to be a benevolent fairy godmother who is there to simply grant our wishes in times of crisis, when we begin to think we might need his help?

What if God is using this pandemic, and the resulting changes in our lives, to focus our attention on the things that are really important, like learning to know and trust him more, and finding opportunities to reach out to the people around us who need help and encouragement? What if he is giving us the gift of an unexpected, forced Sabbatical, a whole year to rest and reflect on our lives, and what is truly essential? What if he is giving us time to be refreshed in body and soul, so we can refocus our hearts and minds on him, and readjust our priorities in the years to come, when our restrictions are lifted and we have a chance to establish a new normal way of living? What if he is giving each of us one more chance to read his Word and really get to know him?

The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son (Jesus) in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Romans 8:3

O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
    and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
    and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.  Isaiah 40:31