Good Morning. way-ya-nah This is a verb from the Hebrew language that was used by Moses to describe to Pharoah what would happen to Egypt when the plague of locusts descended upon them. Moses said that the locusts would way-ya-nah – “settle” upon the land. This meant that they would not merely be passing through but would descend upon the land and get comfortable. They would stay in the area until everything was accomplished, which for a locust meant that they would stay until every last bit of grass and grain was devoured. (Exodus 10:6; 14)
The reason I find this interesting is that the word, way-ya-nah, is used in Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested (way-ya-nah) on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Have you ever wondered when you read that passage if God was somehow exhausted from the process of creating, so much so that He determined that He needed to take a day off and get some rest? That isn’t what the verse is telling us. It says that on that seventh day, after all that needed to be done was done, God chose to take a day to recognize and to contemplate all that He had accomplished. God (way-ya-nah) “settled” His mind and Spirit as He considered His wonderous work of creation. While “rested” is the traditional word used for translation, I think that a word like “reposed” might be more appropriate.
God’s command is that His people honor Him with a day of way-ya-nah, a day to stop doing the work and tasks that are typical of a day and to “repose”. We are to stop, to “rest”, but also to “repose”, which means that we take the time and give ourselves to the purpose of reflection. The natural outcome of such restful contemplation is to worship the Lord our God.
God blessed the Sabbath day and made it a holy day. It is a day that is directed to Him. It is a day to relax and to consider all that God has done and is doing. It is a day to bring praise and worship to our Lord. It is a day that is commanded to give God our thoughts and our actions and to give Him glory.
By the way, you may have noticed that at the beginning of this thought for the day I mentioned that way-ya-nah is a verb. Resting, contemplating, recognizing, worshiping, is commanded to us as something we must do!
Worship well today, even as you way-ya-nah!
Vern