Nehemiah 13

“In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions. Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, ‘What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.’” Nehemiah 13:15-18 (NKJV)

When I was a kid growing up in Arkansas, the city I lived in had a “blue law” that prohibited retail businesses from opening on Sundays. Apart from a few restaurants, everything in town was closed for business. The city’s managers, along with the voting public, felt it was best for our community to rest on the Lord’s Day. Truth be known, the majority of our city council were deacons in their local churches. While they could not enforce whether people went to church, they could make it nearly impossible for anyone to do anything else!

I remember when that law was amended to allow businesses to open in the afternoon on Sundays, and I recall when the law was repealed altogether. At the time, I was not a follower of Jesus, so I rejoiced when I finally had the opportunity to skip church and go shopping. If you were to ask Nehemiah, he would say it was blasphemy!

A friend of mine recently challenged me by asking how well I felt I was following the 4th commandment: “Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy,” as the Lord commanded us to observe it. I thought about it and realized I was not doing a good job setting aside a day of complete rest to read God’s Word and reflect on Him.  

You don’t hear a lot of pastors teaching on this subject of setting the ENTIRE day aside, primarily for two reasons: 1) It is hard enough to get people to worship at a church for an HOUR every week, and 2) The people being preached-to are the ones who are already setting-aside time to attend church! But the idea about the Sabbath is not simply to attend a weekly congregational meeting; the Sabbath is about committing a whole day to do nothing but seek & worship the Lord.  

When was the last time you committed a whole day to simply worshipping the Lord, forsaking all other opportunities? For most of us, sadly, the answer would be never.  

I challenge you to try it and see how the Lord refreshes your soul. As the Lord says concerning our tithe, “Test me on this…” (Malachi 3:10b). Test the Lord by devoting yourselves to His prescribed day (and His prescribed way) of rest.