Not Optional
Therefore, the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day Deuteronomy 5:15
Commanded – The play day. The celebration day. The Freedom Day. Every week God allows us to have one day just for remembering, enjoying and thanking Him. You would think that no one would reject such a gift. But we do, don’t we? Human beings have this great propensity to force God’s gifts into human packages. We are likely to take the gift of this day and shove it into the world-shaped box. In order to prevent this self-defeating stupidity, God commands us to set aside this time.
The word is sawah. It isn’t optional. It covers directives, orders, appointments and commands. There is no possibility of negotiating here. God says “Shama”, “Listen and obey!”. But we don’t like commands, even when they are for our own good. We see the sign, “Dangerous Curve: Speed Limit 35” and we don’t slow down. We see a “Warning” label and we ignore it. God recognizes that, left to our own choices, our built-in rebellion against orders and our need to be in control will undermine our desire for worship. So He commands us to take time off. Can you imagine how ridiculous this is? God has to command us to take a vacation from work!
That raises a very important question: is dishonoring the Sabbath a sin? The answer is “Yes”. You can’t break God’s commands without sinning, even if you have plenty of excuses. The crazy part about this sin is that the command is there to protect you from the very thing used as an excuse to disobey. “Oh, I just have too much to do to set aside a whole day!” Of course you have too much to do. You’re in bondage. That’s why you need to set aside the day: to remember Who set you free.
By not honoring God’s command to take a vacation from the ordinary, we are really saying, “Look God, I’m in charge of my life and I am just too busy to stop being busy. I know what’s best for me. I need to catch up on all this work.”
What arrogance! And what stupidity. Do you think that the God Who created all this, Who designed it to all work together, doesn’t know how to run it for maximum efficiency? If He designed play and rest into the system, then play and rest are neither accidental nor optional. But God doesn’t push it. He lets us go right on going on, until we drop for too much of everything.
Repent of your disregard for His order and your dishonoring of His design. It is repentance that leads to rest; something you needed anyway.
