Book Review: Sabbath

For the past few months, my husband and I have been trying to intentionally build Sabbaths into our schedule. Our Sabbaths included a break from work, errands, household tasks and we made sure to go for walks, play games and spend extra time in our Bible reading.

This is what we typically think of when we imagine "taking a Sabbath." But author Dan B. Allender says that we have greatly misunderstood what the Bible means by "rest" and stripped the Sabbath of its truest intentions into a litany of "do's" and "don'ts." He delves into this and more in his new book, Sabbath, which I received a complimentary copy to review from BookSneez Dan B. Allendere.com.

In Sabbath, Allender states that the kind of Sabbath that God envisioned on the seventh day was not one of rest from six days worth of hard work (because it was not hard work for Him!), but one of celebration and delight. That word there—delight—is the crux of Allender's interpretation of what a Sabbath ought to look like: Our Sabbath day should be one in which we take full delight, as we are simultaneously taken back into the Garden of Eden when the Sabbath was first initiated and as we look forward to the joys of heaven.

"The Sabbath is an invitation to enter delight," Allender writes. "The Sabbath, when experienced as God intended, is the best day of our lives. Without question or thought, it is the best day of the week. It is the day we anticipate on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday—and the day we remember on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Sabbath is the holy time where we feast, play, dance, have sex, sing, pray, laugh, tell stories, read, paint, walk and watch creation in its fullness. Few people are willing to enter the Sabbath and sanctify it, to make it holy, because a full day of delight and joy is more than most people can bear in a lifetime, let alone a week."

I've never heard anyone position the Sabbath in that light, and yet, it rings true in my heart. But what does delight even look like? That is one of the greatest hurdles to remembering the Sabbath, Allender points out. We hardly even know what brings us true, God-honoring delight. And that is the journey that Allender takes readers on in Sabbath, where he opens eyes to a new way of seeing and savoring the Sabbath and helps readers tap into the possibilities of what Sabbath can look like in their own lives.

Find Sabbath by Dan B. Allender on Amazon.

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