December 7: THE FOURTH OF TEN

Here is commandment #4: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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. The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy”. (Exodus 20:8-11) From the standpoint of sheer practicality, this command was one of the most practical ones that he could obey and be blessed. God is the Creator! He knows what He has created. He knows the strengths and weaknesses. He knows that this creation will be the best he can be when he has adequate rest. A lack of rest will harm the human body. But, man, in his stubbornness thinks that he can do well without rest. How many diseases are we dealing with today because man refuses to observe a time of rest?
The Sabbath Day, or day of rest, was to have great symbolic meaning. It was to remind man of his frailty and his need to depend on God. Just like the teaching in Leviticus that the “tithe” is “holy” to the Lord. Holy means “to be set aside for special use”. The tithe or the first one-tenth of the income was to point man to the fact that all of his strength to gain wealth came from God. Every time he would give one-tenth to God, it would be an act of grateful worship. Every time he stopped what he was doing to have a special day of worship, he would remind himself of his debt of gratitude to God.
Man is made to have a time of rest for physical and spiritual refreshment. Some of you readers remember the days of the “Blue Laws” when stores were closed on Sunday and people went to worship and spend time together. Today, business pressures are such that few Christian business owners are spiritually brave enough to close up shop on Sunday. I know of two local chains that do and they are doing very well financially. They are a good witness to the importance of this commandment.
Keep in mind the last part of this command in v.11 “the Lord made it holy”, not for His own benefit, but for yours. You will be happier and your family will be happier the Sunday you begin to use the time for Worship. It is hard for many people to imagine a day set aside for God. Every Friday the radio trumpets “TGIF” (Thank God Its Friday) and urges the listener to get physically worn out in frantic activity. I suggest that you listen to your Maker.

“Thank You, Loving Creator, for building into us the need for a special
day for rest and recuperation and worship. Amen”