BY JUNKO NAKAI

N MY OFFICE among high skyscrapers, I turn my eyes from my paperwork toward heaven at the beginning of every Sabbath. Often I'm treated with a glorious sunset. But even when the sky is clouded with rain or smog, I can still perceive the presence of the Creator with His blessings of peace.

Sabbath was a totally new concept for a Japanese brought up in a Buddhist family. Yet it has played a key role in my Christian life. My personal relationship with God as a new Adventist developed through Sabbathkeeping as I worked at the commercial section of the Royal Swedish Embassy in Tokyo.

God revealed Himself by supporting my desire to keep the Sabbath. It was through these experiences that I realized that He was really watching over me and vindicating the seventh-day Sabbath.

Unexpected Help
God's mighty support was essential for my survival, as I had lost the support of my husband, who'd died of heart disease shortly before. The warm church community, sensitive to every member's need, gave me a sense of belonging in that city with a population of 12 million.

During the five years at the Swedish Embassy, when I had a wish in my heart to keep the Sabbath, God would send His help every week through various people and in various forms.

Friday sunset in Tokyo was Friday morning in Sweden, and typically as it would come close to sunset time in Tokyo, many telexed messages would be received from Sweden. Once when I reluctantly faced many of these, unexpected help came from a Swedish secretary. "Junko, you must go home; I will handle the telex," she said.

Another time, help came unexpectedly from a Danish office manager. She was discussing something with the trade commissioner, the head of our office, who had just requested each staff member to write a report for him to take to Sweden the next day. It was an unwelcome task, coming, as it did, 15 minutes before sunset. Yet I took up my pen and started writing. The office manager came over to my desk and said, "Junko, you don't have to do this." Like an amateur actress, she picked up my half-written report and tore it up in front of my startled eyes! Thus God helped me once again to keep the Sabbath from sunset.

Office excursions were always planned for the weekend. Typically they involved drinking and noisy entertainment on Friday night, so I did not participate. One such Friday, alone in the office after everyone else had gone, I felt a little lonely. Then a telex came in. Oh, no, it will soon be Sabbath, and there's nobody here except me to deal with it, I thought. The telex, however, was addressed to me from my colleague accountant from Sweden. It read, "Is it OK to remove projects A, B, C, D, E from our book?" As I had already checked each project, all I needed to reply was "OK." The short message from Sweden ended with the note "Have a happy weekend!" My heart lit up. How marvelous it is that God can use even the people on the other side of the globe to uplift my spirit!

As it drew nearer to winter, the sun set earlier (at 4:28 p.m. in November). In order to keep the Sabbath from sundown, I had to ask for permission to leave the office earlier than the regular time. I waited for an opportunity to make the request to the trade commissioner. Somehow, he'd sensed it; and in order to discourage me from making the request, he praised my colleague in my presence for her excellent work. She was a possible replacement as the accountant, the independent position I held in the office. If I were to work as a project team member, it would be difficult to have the freedom of keeping the Sabbath. By commending my colleague's work, the commissioner meant to give me what amounted to a mild warning or threat.

Nevertheless, the message from God all that week through my devotional readings had been "Be joyful always." This phrase had kept me cheerful. Now it was Friday, and I needed to ask the commissioner if I could leave the office in time for sunset. "This will be the last time such a request is accepted," he said. "Next time you will have to leave." We agreed that I would work longer hours on Mondays to compensate for the hours off on Fridays. Again I praised God for the acceptance of my request.

Facing Hostility
Japanese colleagues, however, notorious for their group consciousness, developed a generally hostile attitude toward the consideration I'd received. When I came down with the flu, the most senior of them said, "You should never become ill, because you keep the Sabbath." (Yet this was the person who later showed a serious interest in Christianity.)

Friday after sunset became the most precious time for me. It was the special occasion I spent alone with God in deep Bible study, using the teacher's edition of the Sabbath school quarterly. I called it a "date with my God." The messages from the Bible were like love letters from God to me.

After a wholehearted study of the word of the sacred scripture, my mind was always revived with the Holy Spirit, however weary I might have been before. Through the Word, as with the two olive branches in Zechariah 4:11-14, the Holy Spirit was poured into my mind. As my spirit was refreshed by the Holy Spirit, my whole mental being would be stimulated. And when I would share what I learned on the Sabbath, it enhanced my social being. This experience made me understand that the Word of God is mighty and powerful in regenerating our spirit. Later in my life there were some Sabbaths when I was not able to do this in-depth reading of the Bible, and inevitably the joy of the Sabbath drastically decreased.

As the original Hebrew word for Sabbath denotes, the Sabbath was meant for me to stop and turn my eyes away from myself and worldly things unto heavenly beings. Yet by focusing my thoughts on God and communicating with Him, I noticed, paradoxically, that I was enabled to communicate with my inner self at a deeper level. Thus every Sabbath I was thoroughly refreshed and felt re-created with heavenly peace and joy.

My understanding of the Sabbath was deepened when I read Divine Rest for Human Restlessness, in which Samuele Bacchiocchi explains the nature of true rest. "True rest," he says, "is to be found not in places or through pills but rather in a right relationship with a Person, the Person of the Savior who says: 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest' (Matt. 11:28, NIV). Perfect rest and peace are not a human achievement but a divine gift."¹

For six days God filled the planet with good things and living beings, but on the seventh He filled it with His presence. God's presence is the source of the blessings of life and happiness promised through the Sabbath. Separated from God's presence, human life is but a fleeting shadow. "As the symbol and assurance of God's presence in this world and in human lives, the Sabbath represents a most sublime expression of God's loving care".²

My experience is a small testimony of this. Each of us has a unique personal relationship with God, and I believe that when we remember the Sabbath, God will reveal Himself in the way that each of us can recognize. Many people may have to leave their jobs for the sake of the Sabbath. Yet in such cases we can trust that God is leading us to another path in His purpose.

I Learned to Stop
In the midst of our hectic, material-oriented modern lives, God is still offering His presence and inviting us to enter His Sabbath rest and find Him there. To build a personal relationship, it's essential to listen and to share. But in my actual daily life I often find myself too busy doing things to be there for my friends and family. Keeping the Sabbath has taught me to stop so that I can give my being to God and to my beloved ones. When we acknowledge His presence with us and share our time with Him, we will eventually be restored to our original image, step by step being changed by beholding Him. Our personal communication with God every Sabbath is critical for such growth as Christians.

The Sabbath has been the most delightful time of my experience with God. Indeed, it is the safety valve of my life. I don't know how I could ever manage without it. I remain a Seventh-day Adventist because this is the Christian church that observes the Sabbath-and the correct one, too.

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1 Samuele Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest for Human Restlessness (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Biblical Perspectives, 1986), p. 217.
2 Ibid., p. 86.

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Junko Nakai, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Manchester, currently resides in Oxford, England, where she teaches Japanese language courses at the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. She is the founder of the Healthy Living Supper Club and the president of the Anglo-Japanese Fureal ("touching of the heart") Network, both based in Oxford.