Work 3 (God's work in my life)

In Exodus, God lays it down in these adamant words regarding Sabbath observance. “Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death… It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.” (Ex. 31:14-17; Ex 35:2 has a similar admonition).

Without the clause, “sign between me and the Israelites forever,” the modern reader would probably enter a panic. 99.99% of the people on the planet are not observing the Sabbath. America has a large number of stores open every day of the week and some are even 24/7!

Why was God so serious? I’m not sure. Resting is an essential aspect of being human. Without proper sleep, people do not function properly. People typically work a quarter to a third of the time in a week (168 hours), typically spending at least as much time in bed sleeping. There is something profound about recreation and play and the absence of work that enables us to return to work reinvigorated. I find it interesting that the modern calendar uses a 7-day week with no work on Saturday or Sunday. Is the concept of a 7-day week universal to all cultures? I sort of doubt it, but I’ve never looked into it.

Anyways, as disciples, we are called to follow God’s example, and Ex 31:17 explains that God rested and so should we. Here are some additional scriptures about some of God’s work for us to consider. “The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets” (Ex 32:16). One of God’s special works was the writing on the tablets of stone. I wonder what they looked like! Did God use his “fingers” or did he just zap the writing on all at once?

“Then the LORD said: ‘I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you’” (Ex 34:10). God’s works are wonderful (see Psalms). God works at all sorts of scales. He created the differentiation and tiny variation in the big bang that resulted in the conglomeration of stars and galaxies just as he wanted. If there had been complete uniformity, the universe would have just been a big homogenous soup and we wouldn’t be here! God operates at a global level, fashioning the earth over the course of five billion years, culminating in homo sapiens who was capable of worshipping and loving their creator.

God operates among the nations. It is powerful for me to reflect on the following facts:

• Hitler’s oppressive 3rd Reich lasted little more than a decade.
• Saddam Hussein was brought to justice within two or three decades.
• Even the Cold War with the Soviet Union lasted less than a half-century.
  

God cares about and works in the lives of individuals. The number of things that had to happen for me to become a disciples is rather astounding. The times and places orchestrated is really quite amazing. In 1998-99 I underwent counseling at SPU since I felt I needed help processing some issues in my life. This ended up helping me create the room to make independent decisions in my life. In spring 1999, Shannon Jackson (a friend from high school 1990-92) visited her friend Allison Tait in Seattle. Shannon and I had not seen each other for years, so we got in touch and she took me to airport to visit my sister in Tennessee. On the trip over, she mentioned she was staying with Allison, who also attended Walla Walla College with Shannon and myself. WWC is a small school (1500 people) but I’d never met Allison; I just knew she was on the softball team. At the time, I was a young adult leader at Green Lake Church and I was trying to network with all the Seventh-Day Adventist young adults in Seattle. Thus, when I got back from Tennessee, I gave Allison a phone call, told her about the “Connections” group I was forming, and asked if she wanted to be on the email list. She said, “sure” and we chatted a bit. Unbeknownst to me, she had just finished the sin study that night with Lisa La De Route Lewis.

In June or July, I was talked to my friend Len Kandt who was on the periphery of the SDA young adult group and I was hoping to get him more involved. He was getting his master’s in mechanical engineering at UW and we had a class together. He said he had hung out with Allison and that she was going to a new church and had some strange new beliefs. My ears perked up because SDA’s hardly ever leave to go to a different church. They just stop going.

In summer 1999, I got depressed despite the beautiful Seattle weather. The curtains went across my eyes and I could not get anything out of the Bible and felt very disconnected with God. The key components in my disconnection with God were my sin (obviously) but also the church politics I had experienced and a lack of true Biblical spiritual & soulful fellowship. Simultaneously, I was not finding complete satisfaction my grad school experience and wondered about the purpose for my life and whether I should pursue my Ph.D.

(to be continued :-)