A Day of Rest

"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 on the seventh day.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

I remember a sign that hung sarcastically in my grandmother's home, and it said this, "A man works from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done." Perhaps there was some truth to that, but I know for a fact that even women have to sit down and rest at times; and every person, man and woman alike, has to sleep. And even though the statement is funny and sometimes true, I like God's Word on the matter. Work six days, then rest on the seventh. In it you shall do not work.

The Bible proclaims God's work ethic very clearly. He intends for people to work. Even in the beginning, Eden was not some idyllic place of idleness in which Adam and Eve laid around in the shade all day eating apples. Eden was a garden that needed tending, filled with animals which needed naming, and this was Adam's job. It was the labor God gave his hands to do. It was his duty, his employment, and his responsibility to take care of God's creation. And at the end of each day, God would come down to talk to Adam and perhaps inspect his work.

The New Testament reinforces in doctrine the practices of the Old. Paul wrote that everybody ought to lead quiet lives, mind their own business, and work with their hands. When he heard that some were being lazy while waiting for the return of the Lord, he commanded that the ones who didn't work wouldn't eat. And he says that the man who won't work to take care of his own is worse than an infidel. We were made to work.

But neither our bodies nor our psyches were designed for continuous work. After all, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. God doesn't want his servants dulled and useless, which is why He commands a day for rest, which sharpens us for our next labors. It's interesting to note that at one point in German history, someone decided to work the mules every day; soon they began dying. And in revolutionary France, the enlightened humanistic government decided that one day of rest in ten would be quite sufficient; the labor force decreased in efficiency and productivity. Soon, even the godless were recognizing the benefits of one day of rest a week. So should we.

To labor means to work with our hands as servants to whatever master we are pledged to. The word work applies to our occupation and business, our religion and our politics. There are six days given to us to attend ourselves and those who employ us, and that is exactly as it should be. But there is a seventh day given in which we shall not do work. We are to cease completely from working for ourselves and others, and commit our body, mind, soul, strength and spirit to worshiping the Lord and giving our bodies their needed rest.

In this way, we honor the Lord with our time and give our bodies the benefit of divinely ordained rest.