Work For Six Days?

 

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 

                                                                             (Ex 20:8-11 KJV)

I have always stressed observing the Sabbath Day and our need to actually rest. But, today I am going to get a little legalistic and say something about the other six days. Lately, when doing any type of business, whether in the stores or offices or on the telephone, it seems that the employees aren't really thrilled that they have to do their jobs. They can be rude and appear to be most unhappy that they have to even be there. There seems to be a lot of people who really don't care about the quality of the services their work provides. 

When Adam and Eve were placed in the garden they actually had no work to do. God took care of their daily needs. There was an abundance of food in the orchard. But, they sinned by disobeying God and eating from the one tree they were told not to eat from. The consequence was that humankind would have to work for their food. They would also have to work so that they would have a home since they were cast out of paradise.

God had labored for six days to create heaven and earth and then he rested. In the beginning humankind had to do nothing like that; at least not until they decided that they should eat of the tree that the serpent told them would make them like gods. We could say that in part that came to fruition as now we get to work six days and rest for one even as our God worked for six days and then rested.

Today, most people (at least in the United States) would be offended by the thought of having to work six days. They simply would not do it. It seems it has become an imposition to have to work to earn an income in order to live. It takes away from the way more than one day of rest that we think we deserve to mow the lawn or otherwise take care of our homes and property. So many end up stressed out because they don't have enough time to do nothing. They end up worried about how they are going to manage financially.

Although I cannot recall the original early American author of the quote, it would do us all well to remember that we should "work not worry." If in fact we would focus more on our work; our vocations, then we will have a lot less to worry about.

May God bless your work days and grant you refreshment on the Sabbath.

God's Peace - Pr. J.