Whether a person happens to be a grammar geek or not, commas are important.  In fact, sometimes they are more than just important; they are crucial!

Consider these examples:

No comma:  I’m sorry I love you.
With comma:  I’m sorry, I love you.

No comma:  He told me I’m a fool.
With comma:  He told me, I’m a fool.

No comma:  Slow children at play.
With comma:  Slow, children at play.

No comma:  We’re going to learn how to cut and paste kids.
With comma:  We’re going to learn how to cut and paste, kids.

No comma:  Let’s eat Grandma.
With comma:  Let’s eat, Grandma.

No commas:  I find inspiration in cooking my family and my dog.
With commas:  I find inspiration in cooking, my family, and my dog.

No comma:  A woman without her man is nothing.
With punctuation and comma:  A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Commas are significant!  Omit one when writing … or miss one when reading … and an entirely different message can emerge.  At best, confusion can be caused; at worst, offense can be caused or wrong information can be passed along. 

Think about the drastically different theology the next sentences convey:

No comma:  Jesus died for you as sinful as you are.
With comma:  Jesus died for you, as sinful as you are.

No comma:  God truly loves you not a bit – endlessly and forever.
With comma:  God truly loves you, not a bit – endlessly and forever.

We need pauses in our words to share the message we want to share – to get it right.  Lack of appropriate pauses causes issues.

The same is true in our lives.  Sometimes pauses are not only desirable; they are necessary.

Obviously, our bodies can’t be taxed indefinitely.  Sooner or later, we need a physical rest.  It’s why we stop, rest, eat and sleep. 

Mental breaks are also crucial, or focus fades and mistakes are made. 

Ditto for our emotions, which can be distracted, disrupted and even devastated by emotional storms.  Perhaps even more important than physical and mental breaks, our emotions need some “sunny days” now and then – times of calm and peace.

The loving Lord who created us knows how important pauses are in our lives.  Therefore, it shouldn’t be shocking that he set aside the Sabbath Day for Old Testament Israel.  As he told the people through Moses:

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 20:9-11)

Saturday, the seventh day, was to be a day of rest – physical, mental, and emotional rest – for God’s people.  But here was the key: the Sabbath Day was, first and foremost, a day of spiritual rest. 

God told his people, “There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly.  You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord” (Leviticus 23:3).

In other words, God told them to take a day to rest their bodies, minds and emotions from the rigors of life … AND to immerse themselves in the ultimate spiritual rest that God brings.  It was a day to worship the Lord and to be in his Scriptures.  God knew that the ultimate pause the people needed in their lives was rest for their souls.

Nothing has changed!  The ultimate pause WE need in OUR lives is rest for OUR souls!  When our souls are at rest in the Lord, then our bodies, minds and emotions also prosper.

The New Testament makes it clear we are no longer obligated to literally observe the Sabbath Day by physically resting on Saturdays.  The Sabbath and the Old Testament ceremonies were “a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ” (Col. 2:16-17).

In other words, in these New Testament times we find rest for our souls in our Savior.  Jesus himself made this clear.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29).

The writer to the New Testament Jewish believers was inspired by the Holy Spirit to explain it this way:

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.  Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest … (Hebrews 4:9-11).

And then in the very next verse he shares how we enter that rest!

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).

We are no longer obligated to observe the Sabbath Day literally.  But we are still commanded / urged / begged by the Lord to be in his living and active Word regularly … in worship services, Bible studies, personal devotions, and Christian music.  Because that’s the way the Holy Spirit works in us and brings us spiritual rest.

So definitely pause.  Pause in your days to appreciate your loved ones and your many “little” blessings – to “smell the flowers,” as the expression goes.  Pause from your labors daily and weekly to rest your body, mind and emotions.  Pause in your annual schedules for vacations. 

But the Lord gives us this most crucial advice of all: “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10). That is, pause often to focus on the Lord through his Word, and let the Lord bring rest to your soul through Jesus, your Savior. 

Commas in sentences are extremely important.  But “commas” (pauses) in our lives, and especially for our souls, are even more important.

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Psalm 46 (selected)
¹ God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. ² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, ³ though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. … ⁷ The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” ¹¹ The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.