Daily Verse
Monday, October 5, 2026
The Sabbath
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Monday's Reflection
Isaiah 58:12 — And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
In 1844, in the small town of Washington, New Hampshire, a quiet woman named Rachel Oakes Preston did something that would ripple through history. She was a Seventh Day Baptist, one of a small group of Christians who had continued to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. She found herself worshiping among a congregation of Advent believers — earnest Christians eagerly awaiting the return of Jesus, but who kept Sunday as they had always been taught. Rachel simply and lovingly shared with them what she had come to see in the Scriptures: that the Bible Sabbath was the seventh day, rooted in creation and written into the heart of God's own commandments.
She did not preach from a pulpit or lead a movement. She was one believer, sharing a Bible truth with the people around her. But her quiet witness took hold. The preacher of that congregation, Frederick Wheeler, studied the question for himself and became convinced, beginning to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. Others followed, and that little church in New Hampshire became the first Sabbath-keeping Adventist congregation. From that small beginning, the truth Rachel shared spread and became one of the defining marks of the movement that grew into the Seventh-day Adventist Church, now spanning the globe.
Isaiah spoke of those who would be called repairers of the breach and restorers of paths — people who recover what has been lost and rebuild what has fallen into ruin. In her humble way, Rachel Oakes Preston was exactly that: someone who helped restore a truth the wider church had let slip away. Her story is a reminder that God often works through the quiet faithfulness of ordinary believers who simply share what they have found in His Word. You do not have to be a great preacher to be used by God. You only have to be faithful with the truth He has shown you, and willing to share it in love with the people around you. A single faithful witness can restore a foundation for generations.
Prayer: Lord, thank You for faithful believers like Rachel Oakes Preston, who quietly restored a forgotten truth. Give us the same humble courage to share what we have found in Your Word, trusting You to use even our small witness for generations to come. Amen.