In the Bible there are many hidden treasures. When they are revealed to us, we rejoice and apply them to our lives. Please allow me to share one of these treasures with you so that we may enjoy and benefit from it together.

As a young man, I knew that the Sabbath was a day of rest, but didn’t understand its significance and its benefits. Actually, keeping the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments and written in stone by God’s own finger:

Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. (KJV)

As I remember 40 years ago, things weren’t going well for me. I had a wonderful wife, a good job, a nice place to live, but still something was lacking. I was a believer, but something was amiss. I went for a walk out in the Mojave Desert, alone, and prayed. I explained my dilemma to God and asked for help. As I remember, God said very clearly, in an inner voice, to me, “Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy,” nothing more, just that. My wife and I discussed His Words and decided to give it a try. We sat at home on Sundays and just got bored. We hadn’t been going to church for some reason long forgotten. However, we decided to give church another try; it had to be better that just sitting in boredom. So, we went to church, and to our surprise, we had a wonderful time in the services, in Sunday school, and the many other activities, especially missions. If the doors were open, we were there. This simple act truly transformed our lives. We were no longer bored on Sundays. Sundays were the highlight of our week. Now, we felt we were where we belonged. Here is a scripture that supports our transformed lives:

Isaiah 58:13
“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;

Isaiah 58:14
then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (ESV)

We were “delighted in the Lord” and “riding on the heights of the earth.” This was beyond what we could have imagined, but it gets better: we found another scripture that shows us the benefit of being “delighted in the Lord:”

Psalm_37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

At first we didn’t understand the consequences of this one: What if we desire a billion dollars? What if we desire to be president? What if we desire to sin? Would this promise still apply?

As the years went by, we could see that our desires were converging with God’s desires. We were keeping the Sabbath, fellowshipping with other Christians, and dwelling in His scriptures and His presence. His thoughts were becoming our thoughts; His purpose was becoming our purpose; we were becoming one with Him; and most notably, His desires were becoming our desires. Of course He gave us the desire of our hearts because this was His purpose from before the beginning.

It should be said that just because we tap into these scriptures does not mean that we are free for tribulation. Tribulation is an important part of our lives. The Bible (Romans 5:3) tells us that we glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation results in patience. So, here again, our desires converge with God’s purpose and we can “glory” in our tribulation.

These events happened 40 years ago and we don’t know of any desire of our heart that the Lord has withheld from us. We are riding on the heights of the earth and we are delighted Him. We are also delighted in keeping the Sabbath.