Deuteronomy 5:12 “‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,14 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 or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you."
For a time, our culture seemed to have this down. People demomonstrated a balance between work and rest. But we have become a culture of extremes: either we work ourselves to death, or we get lazy and entertain ourselves to death. We seem to ignore the big picture: reflecting the character of God. In establishing the concept of sabbath, He as Creator "took a day" to sit back and enjoy the work of His hands, His creation. Having entrusted that creation to man, He wants us to see what we have as His, be as creative as we can with it, and then enjoy the fruits of "mission accomplished." We mess that up a number of ways along the way: we view everything as ours (or ought to be ours); we go overboard on "working our way", never taking time to enjoy the fruits of our labor; we get frustrated when we feel unfulfilled and overindulge on taking what we think we deserve. It's a binge cycle, fueled by ingratitude that God has entrusted us with what He has. So let's stop, give thanks, see labor as serving Him, and sit back to say: "it is good; God is good; praise His name."
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