The theme at Hidden Acres this year was rest (with the last session being a high energy presentation about outreach). Rest is good; rest is vital to connecting to the Lord. We are currently working through rest as a topic in our Men’s Refreshers.
The main thought I gained from this time was that the Lord releases captives. Deuteronomy 5 repeats the 10 commandments, but commandment #4 (keeping the Sabbath) has different rationale:
Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 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, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. – Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Slaves of men get no Sabbaths. When we are slaves of the Lord, He gives us rest (and to our servants as well.) Taking rest is a way of demonstrating our release from captivity; we are saying that we are beholden to the Lord alone.
(And for many of us, taking rest means that others rest as well.)
