Amazing how we can read Scripture over and over and still get moments of revelation that are totally fresh, like something we’ve not seen before.
This happened to me recently when I was pondering the “the LORD’S appointed festivals (Lev.23:4). No report of God’s festivals is complete without referring to the Sabbath, so I started reviewing passages about Sabbath observance. I remembered that God had rested on the Sabbath, so I turned to read it again: “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done” (Gen. 2:3).
Then I realized something else. I turned to the fourth commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Ex. 20:8).
And what did Jesus say about the Sabbath? “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk. 2:27).
Ah! I thought. The Ten Commandments did not establish the Sabbath as a holy day. The fourth commandment simply instructed Moses and Israel to keep holy that which God had already made holy at creation.
The western world seems to take pride in working long hours and often seven days a week, but God has ordained a day of rest, a day of declaring through our actions that our God is not a slave-driver. He will care for us if we take a day each week to rest, a day to seek Him, a day to rejoice with family, a day to refresh. The Sabbath is holy; it was made for you. Enjoy it!