When I was a kid, I played video games called Paperboy and Super Mario Brothers on my Nintendo Gaming System. It had a gray controller with black and red buttons that plugged into the gaming console. I remember days when my thumbs would be sore from pounding on the controller most of the day.

​What I still like about video games today is that, when playing them, I feel like I am in control. It feels good to be in control of something. It’s what I love about driving a car, too. It feels like I am in charge, and can go or do whatever I want in those moments.

We all have a need to feel in control, but in giving us the sabbath, God is reminding us one day each week, that God is the One who is ultimately in control. Walter Brueggemann points out that the reason it is so difficult for us to honor the sabbath is the same reason that we abuse the land that God has given us–our desire to be in control.

Pray that God would reveal to you the ways that you are trying to control things that you should be surrendering to God. 

Question to Ponder: What are some helpful ways that we exercise control in our lives, and what are some ways that are harmful?

This week’s devotions are adapted from the book, The Land: Place a Gift, Promise, and Challenge in Biblical Faith  by Walter Brueggemann. Fortress Press, Minneapolis. 2002.