Six Days to Work – The Fourth Commandment

Six Days to Work

The Fourth Commandment

Exodus 31:12-17

And the LORD said to Moses, ^“You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”

God has given us six days to work. The work we’ve been given to do is greater than the job at which we work. We must work at all our relationships, at developing and using our gifts in ministry, at keeping our home and possessions in good condition, in raising children and strengthening our marriage, in our civic and church responsibilities, and so forth.

God has given us six days to work. If we seek Him prayer, so that we plan well, waiting on Him to show us the work we must do each day (Ps. 90:12, 16, 17), we should be able to complete the work He has given us to do each week between Monday and Saturday, leaving Sunday to rest in the Lord and be sanctified in Him.

We must be careful on the Lord’s Day not to bring our weekly work into this holy day. Only works of necessity and mercy may be performed on the Lord’s Day. Otherwise, let us remember and guard this day so that we are renewed in God’s sovereignty and redeeming grace, week by week.

In this series of In the Gates we present a detailed explanation of the Law of God, beginning with the Ten Commandments, and working through the statutes and rules that accompany each commandment. For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the practice of ethics, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.MyParuchia.com and click on our Book Store.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.