08 May Remember the Sabbath (Part 1)
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” – Exodus 20:8-11
Q: What is the fourth commandment?
A: You shall make the Sabbath day holy.
What does this mean?
Because we worship and love God, we should love and respect the preaching of his word, and gladly listen and learn from it.
Do you think God needs us? Why or why not? If we took a break from doing anything would the world fall apart?
God desires that we take a break sometimes. He knows this is really good for us. One of the reasons why it is good is that it reminds us that we are not God. And that is a very good thing.
Sometimes we think our lives are all about us. We believe that we are our own provider through our jobs and the money we earn or the relationships that we have. But God wants us to know that he is our provider. He is the one who gives us all that we need and that without him we could do nothing.
So when we rest from working it makes a statement. It’s a statement like, “God, I recognize that I can be at rest at least one day a week because you are my ultimate provider. You hold the world together, not me. You don’t need me, but I sure do need you.”
God loves it when we talk to him like that and taking a Sabbath once a week is a tangible reminder of these truths.
Read Acts 17:24–25:
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
- Does God have any needs that only we can fulfill?
- Who is the ultimate giver in our lives?
- Why do these truths help us to rest well?
Prayer
Our Father, thank you that you sustain all things by your power and that we can trust in your power to give us all that we need. May our lives display that we understand this. Help our unbelief that leads us to want to control everything. You are in ultimate control and we acknowledge that. Thank you for rest. May we enjoy you in it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
