Remember the Sabbath

I finished reading the book of Nehemiah a few days ago, and I must say, I saw some things in the book that I had never seen before! That's the great thing about the illumination of the Holy Spirit - we continue to find application in God's Word through multiple readings! Anyway, one of the things that struck me was the incident surrounding the profaning of the Sabbath.

¹⁵ In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds ofburdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions. ¹⁶ 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. 

¹⁷ 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? ¹⁸ 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.” ¹⁹ So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and charged that they must not be opened till after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ Now the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. ²¹ Then I warned them, and said to them, “Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you!” From that time on they came no more on the Sabbath. ²² And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should go and guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day.

Nehemiah certainly took the Sabbath seriously - more seriously than most of us. He shut the gates in the faces of those who would sell merchandise on God's holy day, and warned those who camped outside the city that he would lay hands on them if they attempted to profane the day by trading. We are not under the law, but the command to keep the Sabbath holy still applies today. Do we treat the Sabbath with the same kind of reverence and do we keep it with the same determination that Nehemiah did? After all, it is a serious thing - we "bring added wrath" on ourselves by profaning the Sabbath. Often, I think of the Sabbath as a day to not do school or work, hang out with family and friends, and just take it easy. While rest is an important part of the Sabbath, the main goal of the Sabbath is to have a day set aside for God - to worship Him, meditate on Him, and cultivate our relationship with Him. That's something that I can definitely improve on.

How do you spend the Sabbath? What kinds of things do you do to set the day apart and make it God's day?

~Mac