Title
It Does Not Pay To Work Seven Days
Scripture
Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.
(Exodus 16:26)
Devotional
There is a very simple lesson in our text. It goes along with the fourth commandment, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.” (1) Here is the lesson, work in obedience to the Lord. Work diligently and faithfully. Work up to six days a week, but set aside one day every week as a Sabbath. This is God’s plan for man. He is the Creator. He knows His creation and He says that we need to take a day of rest every week. This is the purpose of the Sabbath. God has created it for us. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”(2) We can go ahead and work seven days a week, but we will not prosper in it. Our text basically says, if you work on the day of rest, there will be nothing to gather. You need that day. You need a full planned day of resting in the Lord and the best day to do so is the Lord’s day.
(1) Exodus 20:8 (2) Mark 2:27
Text For The Day
Exodus 16:26: Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.
Thought For The Day
We should “choose the leisure activities that bring us closest to God, to people, to beauty, and to all that ennobles.” J. I. Packer, God's Plans for You
Questions To Ponder
-
Work is a four-letter word. Do you spell it with “L O V E” or with some other four-letter word?
-
For two thousand plus years the church of Jesus Christ has kept the Lord’s Day, Sunday, as a Sabbath. And they have done so pretty much the same way, gathering together. How about you?
-
Do you, and if so, how do you manage your Sabbath? If not, why not? Surely you do not think that you are exempt from the need of a Sabbath.
Morning Study Guide
Defining: This is the Bible’s first mention of a Sabbath. After six-days of the work of Creation God rested on the seventh day (Gen. 2:2-3). “The day which God appointed to be observed by the Jews as a day of rest from all secular labor or employments, and to be kept holy and consecrated to his service and worship.” Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.
Referencing: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light,” Matthew 11:29-30
Applying: Why not do your best to keep a Sabbath: a day set aside for rest. Why not do your best to make it the Lord’s Day, Sunday?