Numbers 29:1-6: a reflection

Among the appointed feasts, God sets apart a day marked by the blowing of trumpets, a holy day on which the people are to cease their regular work and gather to worship. In the seventh month, on the first day, God says, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no regular work. It is a day of blowing of trumpets to you. The trumpet blast called the people to attention, to stop their ordinary labor and turn to God in worship. God built into the rhythm of his people's life set-apart days, holy time, in which they were to lay aside their usual work and give themselves to worship and to God. This shows the value of setting apart holy time to stop and turn to God. God set apart holy time for his people to stop and worship. The trumpet called them to lay aside work and turn to God. Set-apart sacred time calls us to stop and worship. Holy days call us from our labor to attend to God.

Notice the pattern God built into his people's life: set-apart days, marked as holy, on which they were to cease their regular work and turn to him in worship. The blowing of trumpets summoned them, calling them to attention, to stop the ordinary business of life and gather before God. God did not intend his people to be consumed endlessly by work and ordinary activity, with no time set apart for him; he built into their calendar holy days, sacred time, in which they were to lay aside their labor and give themselves to worship. This reflects a wisdom we need. We can be so consumed by our work and the endless activity of life that we never stop, never set apart time to turn to God, letting the ordinary crowd out the sacred. But God calls us to set apart holy time, to stop our regular work, to heed the trumpet call to turn to him in worship. There is real value in observing set-apart sacred time, in stopping the ordinary to attend to God, rather than letting work and activity fill every day without pause. We do well to keep such holy time, to stop and turn to God. Set apart holy time to stop and turn to God, rather than endless work. God calls us to lay aside labor and attend to him. Do not let ordinary activity crowd out sacred time for God. Keeping holy time, we stop to worship God.

That is worth taking to heart, for there is real value in setting apart holy time to stop our regular work and turn to God, as God appointed for his people a day of trumpets, a holy convocation on which they were to cease their labor and worship. We can be so consumed by work and endless activity that we never stop, never set apart time for God, letting the ordinary crowd out the sacred; but God built holy days into his people's life, calling them by the trumpet to lay aside their labor and turn to him. Sacred time matters. Set apart holy time to stop your ordinary work and attend to God, rather than letting activity fill every day without pause. Set apart holy time to stop your regular work and turn to God in worship, heeding the call to lay aside ordinary activity and attend to him, as God appointed for his people, on the first day of the seventh month, a holy convocation and a day of blowing of trumpets, on which they were to do no regular work but gather before him; for the trumpet blast called the people to attention, to stop their ordinary labor and turn to God, and God built into the rhythm of his people's life set-apart days, holy time, in which they were to lay aside their usual work and give themselves to worship, and we can be so consumed by our work and the endless activity of life that we never stop or set apart time for God, letting the ordinary crowd out the sacred, but there is real value in keeping such holy time, in stopping the ordinary to attend to God, so that we do well to set apart sacred time to stop and turn to him rather than letting work and activity fill every day without pause.