Knowing When to Take a Break

Passage: Exodus 16:11-30

Of all the Ten Commandments, the one that’s probably the hardest for us to apply is the fourth: Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. This is one of the commandments that had a clearer application during the pre-Christ era of God’s people. As a theocracy (that is, an entire society guided by the Word of God), the Israelites followed God’s command to “rest on the seventh day” as a group. They all refrained from commercial and vocational activity, rested, and worshiped in community. There weren’t questions about which day was “officially” the Sabbath. Everyone knew.

We have difficulty exercising Sabbath rest because we’re embedded in a culture that never rests. Many of us have vocations that require us to work, in some capacity, 7 days a week. Some of us work shifts, and don’t have the same consistent day off. Commercial activity plows forward every day, so none of us is forced to refrain from buying food, fuel, or other necessities on any given day. The boundaries around “work” and “rest” are fuzzy at best, so the question of how to refrain from work is a difficult one to answer.
If we intend to apply the fourth commandment, we have to start by exploring the “principle behind the precept.” Why did God institute a weekly day of rest and worship? And how did God teach his people about Sabbath rest?

The story of God feeding the Israelites in the wilderness provides some insight. God has delivered his people from the Egyptian army. But they have fled into the barren territory that lies between Egypt and Palestine. And they quickly realize that there’s little by way of food – not nearly enough to feed them all. In no time the Israelites are accusing God of delivering them from the frying pan only to deposit them in the fire. God’s response is to send two food sources: flocks of quail; and “manna” (which means, literally, “what is it?”). The latter is a starchy substance that appears on the ground and can be made into a kind of bread. And God gives specific instructions about how to gather the manna. He says, “Gather as much as you need for one day. What you’ll find is that no matter how much you’ve gathered, you’ll have enough for your family.” Some people attempt to gather twice as much as they think they’ll need, and save some for the next day. Surprisingly, the next morning it has gone bad. Apparently manna’s only good for a day. However, God goes on to say this: “On the sixth day, gather enough manna for two days. Save some for the seventh, because the seventh day is the Sabbath.” Sure enough, the next day there is no manna. The passage notes that those who tried earlier to hoard manna and had it go bad decide not to save manna on the sixth day. They end up being without on the Sabbath.

At first glance there seems something arbitrary or capricious about God’s action. Why wouldn’t the Israelites gather and save as much of the food source as they could? They were in the desert, after all. Who knew when their next meal would come from? And, having had the experience of having the stored manna go bad, why would they attempt to preserve it again? If manna spoils overnight one day, why wouldn’t it spoil overnight the next? These people are just using their common sense.

The lesson is this: when God gives you a command, you follow it. God teaches his people again and again to trust him. God promises to provide for his people. When they follow his commands, God provides without fail. It’s when they doubt God and go it alone that they miss out. In respect to the Sabbath, people invariably default to common sense. “It can’t really hurt to skip my day off this week.”; “I can’t afford not to work today.”; “All my competitors do business seven days a week; I have to keep up.” We can’t know all of God’s reasons for incorporating a weekly day off for rest and worship. There may be plenty of instances in which applying this rule doesn’t make sense to us. But the ultimate principle at work is trust. Do you trust God to provide for your needs no matter what? Do you trust that God loves you and has good reasons for every one of his commands? Do you trust that God will maintain control of your world even if you step away from the wheel for a day? And do you trust that God will come through, even when your common sense tells you there's no way? Honoring the Sabbath, as illustrated in the story of the manna, is about trusting God to provide on his own terms.