Meditation on Text of the Week

Blessed Rest

Six days you shall labour and do all your work . . .
Exodus 20:13

Most associate the Fourth Commandment with the Sabbath Day, the day of rest—and rightly so, for the commandment begins, “Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy.” But the joy and privilege of resting on the sabbath occurs within the context of a command to labour and work for the other six days. Completing all our work on the six days, therefore, is equally part of the Fourth Commandment.

We have noticed that those Christians who are not working hard often struggle to make the sabbath day holy (that is, separate and different from the other six days). We have also noticed that those believers who are working very hard usually look upon the Sabbath as one of the most blessed and wonderful of all of God's gifts to His people.

Now, of course, the work that the Scriptures envision here is not just paid employment or work that is done for trade or remuneration. Whilst it includes that it is far more comprehensive. It also includes all the responsibilities given to us as God's stewards in God's world. It embraces our duties towards our children, extended family members, Christian brethren, our employees, the property and possessions over which the Lord has appointed us stewards, our civic responsibilities, and so forth. All of these duties and tasks and responsibilities are to be undertaken and met in the six days of weekly labour.

Therefore, to celebrate and enjoy the Sabbath properly requires planning, organisation and management. Most of that planning, management, and execution takes place in the remaining six days of the week. The more faithful we are in these endeavours, the more we are able to lay aside our ordinary cares, responsibilities and duties on the Sabbath.

Of course, work is never finished. Everyone comes to the end of each six days with a never-ending conviction that there is so much left unfinished, so much yet to do. But—and here is where the Sabbath becomes a great delight to the conscientious stewards of the Lord—it is the Lord Himself Who commands us to cease from our labours on that day. Therefore, not only does one have a duty to rest on the Sabbath, but a divine warrant to do so. Doing one's work is no longer needful on that day. He gives to His loved ones rest. We can tell our over-active consciences to sit down!

As we were raising our children, the Sabbath Day became an intense family day. We were all able to spend extended time together; eat together in leisurely fashion over long (midday) meals; read the Scriptures together and pray without having to rush away to something else; and it was a day in which we could all go to worship together, joining with God's beloved holy ones in glad array before Him. We could read. We could sleep. We could catch up with our loved ones.

Over time, routines became habits, which in turn became institutions. The Sabbath Day became holy—a day utterly unlike any of the remaining six days of the week. It also became increasingly a day of great delight, the high point of the week. Public worship became part of its central joy: we were truly glad when it came time to say, “Let us go up to the house of the Lord.” It was not a day of negation, but a day of cessation, rest, and celebration. It was a day to take a deep breath and rejoice in the goodness and lovingkindness of God. It was the day which transformed the other six days—the days of labour—into something meaningful, purposive, holy, and truly fruitful.

As time passed, it was sad to see Unbelieving colleagues at work who knew nothing of the Sabbath Day. For them, life had become one ceaseless grind, an endless succession of pressure, sweat, labour, cares, worries and, above all, a never-ending cycle of incompleteness. Their cares and worries could not be laid aside. They started the week stale, worn out, and exhausted. Their ambitions and idolatries had led them to a condition not unlike slavery.

To be appointed a steward of God is a great honour—and such we all have been. Without exception. As we fulfill our responsibilities, above all with faithfulness, during the six days of the week, the Sabbath Day will become our great delight, one of our chief joys—we who have been made after the image of God.