The Spacious Life God Intended
What if the Old Testament law was more spacious than we imagine?
In this episode, Alan Fadling explores a surprising question: How much time did God set aside in Israel’s calendar for worship, rest, celebration, and remembrance?
Weekly Sabbaths. Annual festivals. New Moon observances. A sabbatical year for the land. Jubilee. Taken together, these rhythms reveal a God who was not forming a people around relentless productivity, but around worship, trust, gratitude, and enoughness.
Alan reflects on Israel’s struggle to receive this gift, our own modern “burnout economy,” and the striking connection between Sabbath and freedom from slavery. Perhaps rest is not merely recovery from working too much. Perhaps it is part of the spacious life God intended for us.
In this episode:
- The surprising amount of rest built into Israel’s calendar
- Why Israel struggled to practice the sabbatical year and Jubilee
- What Sabbath has to do with freedom from slavery
- Why our burnout economy makes these ancient rhythms newly relevant
- How rest becomes an apprenticeship in trusting God
- What these rhythms might mean for the way we live and lead today
“Slaves don’t get Sabbaths. Free people do.”
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Alan consults and coaches leaders and their organizations in the U.S. and around the world, helping them work towards long-term productivity that lasts rather than settling for quick fixes that don’t. He is the award-winning author of five books, including An Unhurried Life, An Unhurried Leader, and A Non-Anxious Life.
Gem is the co-host of the Unhurried Living Podcast as well as the author of Hold That Thought and co-author of What Does Your Soul Love? Her work has appeared in Propel Women and Our Daily Bread.
