Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 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….For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Exodus 20:8-11
Every now and again, when I try to launch a particular application on my computer, it’ ll stubbornly refuse, keys raised in surrender. Tired of being pecked at all day. Weary from shuttling info across the internet.
Other times I’ve initiated the shut down and the application freezes up and won’t quit.
When either issue occurs I contact my local IT specialist… who shares the same first, middle and last name as my husband. Looks an awful lot like him, too.
In response to my gripe and whine over the unforeseen technology glitch, he often tosses back a standard solution:
“Go to Finder and force quit.”
Ah. Simple fix.
Recently my email wouldn’t open up. And I only needed to check one more thing. Just one more. Really, that was it.
Again I griped and whined.
From some other room in the house, IT specialist shot back standard solution. “Force quit.”
Right. That.
Force Quit.
Once the computer and I have had a breather, I’ll re-boot and we’re back in business.
Last Sunday afternoon, er, the Sabbath, as dusk yawned outside my parlor window, I was in the midst of tapping madly at my keyboard when I heard this still small voice…
Stop your work and I will multiply your time and bring on added blessing.
I kept tapping. Stubborn fool.
Moving on from scene construction to take a final glance at email, my email app froze.
Imagine.
He (God) makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters. Psalm 23:2
The fourth commandment does not say,
I will force you to quit on the Sabbath in order that you keep it holy.
Rather, using gentler terms, God commands…
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 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…(vs 8-10a)
Force Quit, beloved.
~Athletic games have time outs and half time.
~A ballet performance has an intermission.
~Music of all genres is composed with rest notes. (Honestly, what would Donny Osmond’s Puppy Love be without the breathless hang time between “And they called it….” and “puppy love’ ?)
~Novels have scene breaks and chapters.
~The sun sets.
Remove any of these and my anxiety level would soar.
When I set aside the seventh day and incline my heart and mind fully to Him, my brain…my soul…is restored to a steady rhythm, creating margin for God to fix broken, troubled or weary parts. I receive necessary rest from perpetual mental output and become still long enough receive from Him.
He restores my soul. Psalm 23:3a
Nothing new here. It’s just that it has taken some of us a while to force quit in a way that brings an eager anticipation of meeting with Him.
At the very least, my keyboard thanks me.
P.S. For those reading my blog on the Sabbath…stop that! 🙂
What about you? What makes forcing a quit (Sunday or otherwise) so difficult?