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The Pastoral Lens
The Two Faces of Pleasure
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
As I write my column this week I am currently away on a 2-day prayer retreat at a cozy cottage near Ipperwash Beach, on the shores of Lake Huron. Blustery, winter-like temperatures have met me this year, ushering the varied-coloured leaves to the ground in quicker fashion than past years. Although taking a few walks along the beach, and enjoying my daily run, I have spent much of the time indoors this year doing something I rarely get a chance to do at other times: read. Besides a copious amount of Scripture, I have also delved into an interesting book that has both held me in its convicting grasp and challenged me to higher heights, all at the same time. The book, by Pastor Mark Buchanan, is entitled, "The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul By Restoring Sabbath." The book is all about getting free from the busyness and tyranny of our cluttered lives and taking some time to enjoy God free from those entrapments.I have just put the book down to write this column because I was suddenly confronted with some dramatic irony. I am spending this prayer retreat in the same rented cottage where 6 weeks earlier my family had their summer vacation. The joyful squeals of playful children, the enticing aroma of bar-b-qued chicken breast, and the sight of bathing suits and towels hanging on the clothesline have given way to a quiet, warm nook nestled comfortably away from the distractions of daily life. Here there is no television (that works!), no phone, and no internet. Of course, there is also no wife and children, the precious family I love and the reason for which this place is such an heirloom of the soul for me. I caught myself, during a time of quiet, prayerful reflection, secretly mourning the time now passed that I had with my children pushing them on the tire swing in the cottage‚s backyard. I have discovered in these past 2 days both refreshment and exhilaration in the presence of the God I love, and yet at the same time the profound sadness of missing the family that I also love. I am confronted in this place with the 2 sides of pleasure. Both are very good and used by the Lord to bring blessing to me, but in distinctly different ways.
The 4th commandment of the Ten Commandments is the injunction to "remember/observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy." (Exodus 20:8; Deuteronomy 5:12). Although both of these Old Testament books contain the words of the Ten Commandments, there is a slight difference on sabbath-keeping between the Exodus and Deuteronomy accounts. The latter book draws on remembering God's work in creation, that He rested on the 7th day. We need rest. However, in Deuteronomy, we are instructed to observe the sabbath as a day of rest based on the recollection of the time that Israel was in slavery in Egypt, and had no pleasure. Both of these renderings of the 4th commandment are valid. Buchanan, in this book I've been reading, postures for both an Exodus "pray" and a Deuteronomy "play" aspect to this important concept of sabbath-keeping.
The 2 times of the year that I spend at this cottage are like both ends of the sabbath-keeping spectrum. In the summer, I "play" with my family on our annual vacation, enjoying the God I love by spending the time with the family I love. In the fall, I "pray", spending precious, unadulterated time alone with the Creator of the universe Who delights to share this time with me. In the short span of 6 weeks I have had the privilege of enjoying the 2 faces of pleasure afforded to me by God's gracious hand.
What about you? Are you stuck in a dreary, frenzied rut of busyness with too many appointments crammed into too short of space? Have you lost the sense of pleasure that comes from enjoying the things in life that God has provided? Perhaps you're cheating yourself by abstaining from sabbath, both sides of it. Remember what Jesus said when He wanted to convey to those who listened to Him about the importance of having a sabbath. He said, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." (Mark 2:27). So, take time each week, including this week, to "pray" and "play" with the One Who loves you. Your refreshing and enrichment is found in that sabbath.
