Stewardship Of LeisureНамуна

Leisure Must Draw Us Closer To His Presence

Did you know that the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Bible, renders Psalm 46:10 as “Have leisure and know that I am God”?

Our English word “leisure” can be traced back to the Greek word schole and this is the word used for “be still” in Psalm 46:10 and hence the rendering “Have leisure and know that I am God.” 

The Vulgate, which is the Latin translation from the Hebrew, reads “be at leisure and see that I am God.”

The Hebrew word used here is the word raphah, which means “to release, to let go, to relax.”

It is important to know that in Hebrew grammar the emphasis is on “know” rather than “be still”

Thus, the goal of being still is to know God, to relax and be confident that God is our protector and that He is with us at all times.

This command—“be still”—forces us to think on two things: that we are finite and that God is infinite.

Psalm 46:10 encourages us to reflect on what God can do in the face of what we are unable to do. Spiritual serenity, the psalmist admits, is a discipline that has to be cultivated.

The call from this passage of Scripture is that as we are caught up with the pressures of work, we must take time off to recognize the really important matters of our faith in God.

Self-knowledge and God-knowledge--these can never be had until we have learned to be still. “Stand still and see the salvation of God.”

If God had not divided our life into days, and compelled us to sleep, we would run out of our energy in a very few years of perpetual dissipation.

So the understanding of leisure is linked with divine worship. Leisure, as defined here, is a mental and spiritual attitude. 

Dale Connally defines leisure as “freedom from external, compulsive forces of life (such as work) in order to pursue personally pleasing activities that are not only worthwhile, but provide a basis for strengthening faith.”

Paul Heintzman in his book “The Spiritual Benefits of Leisure” writes, “The development of character (intra and inter-personal characteristics), which corresponds to the ‘connectedness with self and others‘ element of spiritual well-being, was the benefit most frequently reported by parents as an outcome of their child’s participation in faith-based recreation activities.”

In a study on the experience and role of leisure in the life of counselors and psychologists, Grafanaki and others discovered that leisure provided opportunity for spiritual experience, thereby helping participants achieve balance and integration in everyday life and cope with the demands of their work.

Richard Foster described the early Christian notion of holy leisure as “a sense of balance in life, an ability to be at peace through the activities of the day, an ability to rest and take time to enjoy beauty, an ability to pace ourselves.”

Likewise, the medieval monastics advocated a similar balance wherein otium (leisure) was viewed halfway between the two dangers of otiositas (idleness) and negotium (business).

Leisure is crucial for spiritual growth and development. As people who live in a fast-paced society, we need to remember that a leisure atmosphere—where time and space is allotted for being as well as doing—is crucial for Christian spirituality.

So we must see leisure not just a passing time or wasting time but make use of this to achieve balance in our work life to cope with its demands and to help us to be still and “know that He is God.”

Quote: “No soul can be really at rest until it has given up all dependence on everything else and has been forced to depend on the Lord alone. As long as our expectation is from other things, nothing but disappointment awaits us.” - Hannah Whitall Smith

Prayer: Lord, help me to use my rest time, to really know You. Amen