Every Sabbath is a mini vacation that is a foretaste of Heaven to come! The first six days of the week are laden with activities, trials, hustles, and bustles here, there, and everywhere... Airplane flights, highway traffic, waking up super early to catch the school bus or walking miles to your destination... Whew!
Thank God for His command that is gifted with a conditional promise:
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: ... If thou turn away thy foot from... doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Exodus 20: 8-10; Isaiah 58: 13,14.
The Sabbath is supposed to be the most selfless day spent throughout the week. Why? Let's look at the verses microscopically, bit by bit!
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy: Holiness is a God "thing" and not man-derived. Man can only keep the Sabbath holy by being obedient to HOW God stipulates the Sabbath should be kept. Man partakes of the holiness as he willfully and lovingly surrenders to requirements God specified not just on Sabbath but also throughout the week in preparing for it. This surrender requires putting God first!
But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: Therefore because this entire day is the Lord's and for the Lord's benefit, He alone can specify how to spend it. The Bible never said once that man owns the Sabbath, but only that he is benefited by the Sabbath. Mark 2: 27,28. This misunderstanding has caused many to ignorantly and willfully disobey and disregard God's requirements...His Law. The Sabbath was made to meet man's needs but not for us to disregard and trample on our Godly relationship in the process. The Word teaches that as we elevate Jesus as the Lord of the Sabbath, then and only then can we be blessed and the Sabbath be "made for man".
...In it thou shalt not do any work,...: God did not stutter nor make a mistake when he said "not do any" This means unequivocally, absolutely no secular work. If any emergency comes up... this is where He expects us to differ to Him. He will provide the solutions. We just have to trust Him. If it is left up to the enemy, he would plan an emergency every Sabbath to detract from God's time. Therefore once we have done what God requires...let the chips fall where they may. He has a thousand and one ways to resolve any issue. After all He is God and NOT us! If we are to be honest we take on many emergencies because we fear the outcome of the circumstances rather than trust God to deal with results. We justify the reasons we should do this and that when breaking God's covenant... but if God didn't give us permission to do ... then don't. Let the results rest with Him. But what about caring for the sick? God cares more for the sick than you and I. More times than not it is all about the money or fear of loss than taking care of the sick. (We will address this in another blog). The question that you and I should also be asking is what about my family? The Sabbath is a family affair and if we are so worried about others to the neglect of our own, God will not hold us guiltless. The family unit is to be nurtured to become the most powerful witness that God wants it to be in helping to halt the progress of sin in this world, in our time... not for the next generation that is not promised. We need to take this responsibility more seriously. Too often we believe that we are more brilliant or compassionate than God so we invent our own solutions to our perceived emergencies but God is often disappointed that we show our lack of trust and belief in His power and love. Let's not lean to our own understandings because we fear the "WOKE" culture even in the church. Proverbs 3:5-7. Let God be lifted up...He is always mighty to show is marvelous works and power! Let's stop castrating God and wrenching His sovereignty out of His hand by our unbelief. Let's show by our faith that God is indeed mighty to save!
Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: Every one deserves the chance to keep the Sabbath, even the cattle and your servant/ maid/ butler/ babysitter... and the list could go on.... Our children from a young age should be taught to love God and His Sabbath. They should see from your loving observance that it is an amazing weekly vacation that is filled with wonders and adventures in discovering their identity in being a part of Heaven's Family. Fathers and especially mothers have a godly obligation to lead their young ones to Christ. When they are young they seldom appreciate it, but when life explodes, they see the beauty of the Sabbath more clearly and embrace God as their father more eagerly.
Therefore today and throughout the week, why don't you bring these forget-me-nots as reminders of true Sabbath intimacy and also as tenets to help keep our faith burning throughout the upcoming week.
Taste. Enjoy! Respond. Like! Share. Be encouraged!
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