Sabbath by Dan B. Allender--a book review

Sabbath by Dan B. Allender—a book review

The fourth commandment, found in Exodus 20, is “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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 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.” Because this is one of the Ten Commandments, Allender writes this book about the importance of observing this day of the week. Delighting in this day is a prevalent theme throughout the book. “The Sabbath is an invitation to enter delight. The Sabbath, when experienced as God intended, is the best day of our lives” (p. 4). Allender gives personal examples and suggestions of how to delight in this day, especially through enjoying God's creation. He recognizes the fact that most Christians do not observe this day or even think twice about it.

This book, overall, has some interesting points to ponder regarding how to observe the Sabbath, points that I have never given much thought to before. For example, delighting in the day, rather than just resting and not working, is a new thought to me. I have tended to be somewhat legalistic on how to approach the Sabbath, so this book was refreshing in that regard. Experiencing new parts of God's amazing creation brings us into closer relationship with Him and is something we can truly delight in. It gave me a new perspective.

On the other hand, Allender did not address the issue of rest, other than saying there is more to the Sabbath than that, or that one doesn't necessarily even have to rest at all. In the passage in Exodus above, God commands His creation to rest and make it holy. Other passages throughout the Bible indicate this concept as well, such as when Moses was leading the Israelites in the wilderness and they were to collect manna for the day before the Sabbath as well as the Sabbath. While I understand the need to make it holy in ways other than rest, not working, and not being caught up in legalism, I thought leaving this important piece out of the equation did not do justice to these Sabbath verses.

I would recommend this book to someone looking for new ways to approach the Sabbath. Otherwise, I was somewhat disappointed. I was hoping for a book encompassing the whole of the Sabbath, to challenge me. I have read books by Allender before and have appreciated his writing, but in my opinion, this is not one of his best books.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program.