"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Exodus 20:8-11
The fourth commandment gets more specific that any of the others, giving some detail about compliance. It not only addresses the issue of not working on the Sabbath, it also addresses the matter of working. The commandment clearly states that we are to work six days before not working on the Sabbath (the seventh day—although the word Sabbath does not refer to the number seven).
Before dealing with the not working part of the commandment, let’s consider the working part.
Work is God’s plan for humans from the beginning (Genesis 2:15). Work is not a part of the curse on our sin. The curse on sin is that work (sweat and thorns) is more difficult than before Adam sinned (Genesis 3:17-19).
God’s will is that we work six days, then worship and rest on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is God’s gift.
Not working every day requires faith, trusting God to supply our needs when we devote a day to worship Him rather than working every day.
Due to modern conveniences, most are able to only work five days and have two “days off.” This allows us a day to rest, doing as we please, and the Sabbath to give special attention to worship. (So much for missing church because it is one’s only day to sleep in!)
Working is a reminder that we are created in the image of God who created everything in six days and “rested” on the seventh, establishing the Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3).
Next time: More about not working on the Sabbath.