For the past couple of months, I’ve been practicing a 24-hour Sabbath.
It starts every Friday evening when I turn my phone off until Saturday evening. No texts. No scrolling. No quick “just checking in” responses. Just off.
If you’ve read the last two entries in this series, you know the story. I walked through a long, quiet unraveling. First came the gentle undoing—the slow loosening of structures, roles, and rhythms I had built my life around. Then came the fog—the deconstruction and disorientation that stripped away what I thought I knew about God, myself, and the faith I had long called home.
This post is part of a four-part series exploring my deeply personal (yet, community-oriented) journey of spiritual transformation—through deconstruction, disorientation, and reorientation. Each post is a window into a different season of the path: the unraveling, the wandering, the returning, and the re-forming. My hope is that, as you read, you’ll feel less alone in your questions and more aware of the God who walks with us through every chapter.
I shared some reflections a few weeks ago. Although I've been a Bible learner and disciple of Christ for many years, I do not yet have this walk figured out. It's filled with missteps and mistakes, and even when I re-read some of my prior posts, I can see how I could have represented the truth more fully and adequately. It is humbling to know that God still brings truth even in our tiny bit of understanding.
Today, we start a Bible study I've refused to write for months. It is a chapter out of my dark soul and a testament to the bright communion God showed me over a long, swarthy night. I know I need to sit still and get some of the messy, messy work God has graciously done down on paper. I dread it and welcome it all in one.
In Exodus chapter 34, the Sabbath was mentioned, and in chapter 35, it is again re-emphasized. Anytime we hear or read something repeatedly, it should give us pause. As Margaret Feinberg puts it in her book The Sacred Echo, "When God really wants to get your attention, he doesn’t just say something once, he echoes. He speaks through a Sunday sermon, a chance conversation with a friend the next day, and even a random email. The same theme, idea, impression, or lesson will repeat itself in surprising and unexpected ways until you realize that maybe, just maybe, God is at work." Let's study Exodus 35 together today and listen for His echos.
The Israelites have been out of Egypt for a month and a half, roughly. Last week, we listened in as they murmured and complained to Moses about the lack of water, and then no sooner read how the Lord turned bitter water into sweet and led them to twelve wells and 70 palm trees. He is a God of more than enough. Now we pick up in the following chapter where the Israelites are back on the road again. I think you’ll find out their attitude hasn’t changed much…praise God that He is patient with us!