Sabbath Quotes for Embracing Rest and Reflection

If you’ve been burning the candle at both ends 24/7, these Sabbath quotes will show you the importance of resting and returning your focus to what matters most.

Many people within and outside of the church know the Sabbath as going to church on Sunday, but is there more to it than that?

What Exactly Is The Sabbath?

The Sabbath is a day of rest from normal work and life to focus on God.

The Sabbath follows God’s creation of the world—he created for six days and rested on the seventh day.

There are many Jewish traditions observed aligning with the Sabbath.

It was given by God to the people as a necessary day of rest.

Observing the Sabbath and keeping it holy is one of the Ten Commandments, where it was commanded that the people refrain from work and remember the Lord.

Is Sunday Really the Sabbath Day?

There are mixed perspectives on what the true Sabbath day is. 

Some believe that the Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and runs until sunset on Saturday.

Others believe that Sunday is the day we should observe as the Sabbath.

The Sabbath was a day given in the Old Testament of the Bible to Israel and appears to have been observed on Saturday historically.

However, over time, many began to view Sunday as “The Lord’s Day.”

This is a question that will be debated until the end of time.

While the exact day may be debated, there is no debate on our need for rest and restoration in life, and you’ll see how the Sabbath creates that space for us in the following Sabbath quotes.

The Importance of the Sabbath Quotes

The following quotes highlight the importance of observing the Sabbath.

1. “The Sabbath provides a wonderful opportunity to strengthen family ties.” — Russell M. Nelson

2. “Day of the Lord, as all our days should be!” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

3. “You will find rest on Sabbath day for your soul.” — Lailah Gifty Akita

4. “A day of rest yields a hundred days of progress.” — Adrienne Posey

5. “Sabbath isn’t about resting perfectly; it’s about resting in the One who is perfect.” — Shelly Miller

6. “As we keep or break the Sabbath Day, we nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope by which man rises.” — Abraham Lincoln

7. “Most of the things we need to be fully alive never come in busyness. They grow in rest.” — Mark Buchanan

8. “Sabbath is not a reward for hard work. Sabbath is a gift that precedes work and enables us to work… As with God’s grace, rest is never a reward; it’s a gift.” — Rich Villodas

9. “Sabbath is not a break from work; it is a redefinition of how we work, why we work, and how we create freedom through our work.” — Dan B. Allender

10. “Rest provides fine-tuning for hearing God’s messages amidst the static of life.” — Shelly Miller

Quotes Reminding You to Keep the Sabbath

These quotes highlight how the Sabbath rest is a benefit for us.

11. “Keeping the Sabbath day holy is much more than just physical rest. It involves spiritual renewal and worship.” — James E. Faust

12. “I feel as if God had, by giving the Sabbath, given fifty-two springs in every year.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

13. “You’ve got to quit, one day a week, and just watch what God is doing when you’re not doing anything.” — Eugene H. Peterson

14. “We don’t go to Sabbath meetings to be entertained or even solely to be instructed. We go to worship the Lord.” — Spencer W. Kimball

15. “A life built upon Sabbath is contented because, in rhythms of rest, we discover our time is full of the holiness of God.” — Shelly Miller

16. “When you abide with God in Sabbath, an unshakable confidence shines from the inside out, enticing others toward the gift of rest as well.” — Shelly Miller

17. “The Hebrew word Shabbat means ‘to stop.’ But it can also be translated ‘to delight.’ It has this dual idea of stopping and also of joying in God and our lives in his world.” — John Mark Comer

18. “A world without a Sabbath would be like a man without a smile, like summer without flowers, and like a homestead without a garden. It is the most joyous day of the week.” — Henry Ward Beecher

19. “There is nothing in which I would advise you to be more strictly conscientious than in keeping the Sabbath day holy. I can truly declare than to me, the Sabbath has been invaluable.” — William Wilberforce

20. “Ever since Adam’s day, the divine law of the Sabbath has been emphasized repeatedly over the centuries more than any other commandment. This long emphasis alone is an indication of its importance.” — James E. Faust

Sabbath Quotes About Rest and Restoration

We are designed to need time to rest and break from this busy world, which the Sabbath was designed for us to do.

21. “God’s creation is a life-giving inhale for all of us, and Sabbath is the exhale.” — Shelly Miller

22. “If you can’t take a nap, if you can’t take a day off, heaven’s going to drive you nuts.” — Mark Driscoll

23. “One day a week, I seek to rest from earthly toil and sorrow. Revitalized, I find the strength to battle new tomorrows.” — Richelle E. Goodrich

24. “If we do not allow for a rhythm of rest in our overly busy lives, illness becomes our Sabbath—our pneumonia, our cancer, our heart attack, our accidents create Sabbath for us.” — Wayne Muller

25. “We learn to rest by practice, by routine, over time. This is true of our bodies, our minds, and our souls, which are always intertwined.” — Tish Harrison

The Sabbath and Our Need for Rest Quotes

Learn more about how the Sabbath is for our benefit. 

26. “No matter how hard we try, we don’t have the capacity to work seven days a week. We need to take this time [Sabbath] to rejuvenate.” — Dan Buettner

27. “We are created for rest just as surely as we are created for labor. An inability or unwillingness to cease from our labors is a confession of unbelief, an admission that we view ourselves as creator and sustainer of our own universes.” — Jen Wilkin

28. “Ultimately, rest is an act of resistance against the siren calls of our idols to work for them. By stopping, we take up arms against the great Western gods of achievement, money, and self-determination.” — Adam Mabry

29. “To enter our Sabbath rest, we must put an end to self-reliance—trusting in our own abilities to overcome difficulties, rise above challenges, escape tragedies, or achieve personal greatness.” — Charles R. Swindoll

30. “Money gained on Sabbath day is a loss, I dare to say. No blessing can come with that which comes to us, on the devil’s back, by our willful disobedience of God’s law. The loss of health by neglect of rest, and the loss of soul by neglect of hearing the gospel, soon turn all seeming profit into real loss.” — Charles Spurgeon

Observing the Sabbath Quotes

The following quotes will encourage you to learn more about and observe the Sabbath.

31. “The Sabbath day is not a holy day unless you observe it.” — Harold B. Lee 

32. “God presents the Sabbath rest as a shelter we can enter.” — Charles R. Swindoll

33. “Anyone can observe the Sabbath, but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week.” — Alice Walker

34. “The Sabbath is a time where we put aside all secular work and focus entirely on Jesus and on things holy.” — Micheal Stewart

35. “Sabbath… is still a gift to us today. If you are weary, worn out, and exhausted the concept of Sabbath will change your life.” — Priscilla Shirer

36. “As we wait, God reveals his purpose in the preparations he is doing within us, and our hopeful outlook is the result.” — Shelly Miller

37. “We make the Sabbath a delight when we teach the gospel to our children.” — Russell M. Nelson

38. “The Sabbath is meant to be more delightful than the sweetest mangoes on earth. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.” — Shaun Brooks

39. “It’s no coincidence that the word ‘holiday’ suggests a holy day or that the longest book in the Torah concerns the Sabbath. If you wish to advance in any sphere, the best way is to take a retreat.” — Pico Iyer 

Lessons About and From the Sabbath

While some people feel like they are wasting time by resting on the Sabbath, these quotes highlight why it’s actually important.

40. “Extravagant wastefulness in time might prove the most productive thing you choose for yourself.” — Shelly Miller

41. “Work is a blessing. God has so arranged the world that work is necessary… It is the joy of work well done that enables us to enjoy rest.” — Elisabeth Elliot

42. ‘When we trust God by taking our hands off our work, what we give up through Sabbath, ultimately benefits those around us.” — Shelly Miller

43. “On the Sabbath day, we are remembering that my relationship with God did not begin with what I’ve done, it is not sustained by what I do, and it is not guaranteed to the end by my effort or work. I’m saved from beginning to end by Jesus’ work.” — Mark Driscoll

44. “This Sabbath day has been designated as a day of thanksgiving, a day of gratitude—even a day of prayer. We pause, we ponder, we reflect on the blessings an all-wise Heavenly Father has bestowed upon us, His children, by bringing peace to the battlefield of war and comfort to the hearts of so many in this wonderful world where we live and which we call home.” — Thomas S. Monsoon

Sabbath Quotes and Verses from the Bible

Learn more about what the Sabbath means and why we should observe it from a Biblical perspective.

45. “How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” — Matthew 12:12

46. “One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.” — Romans 14:5

47. “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.” — Hebrews 4:9-10

48. “I am the Lord your God; follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.” — Ezekiel 20:19-20

49. “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.” — Exodus 20:8-11

50. “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my hold day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” — Isaiah 58: 13-14

Do you observe the Sabbath?

There is no denying that we need rest for our physical and mental health. 

In addition, those who follow God and the Bible understand the spiritual impact the Sabbath has on our lives.

If you’ve been exhausted and drained trying to get more and more in each week, try observing the Sabbath to see the difference it can make in your life.

Let us know which of these Sabbath quotes stands out to you the most in the comments.