No Asterisk Here

Exodus 20:8-10
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God…

It’s right there, a third of the way through the most famous legal system ever designed and delivered to humanity, the Ten Commandments.

Have you ever noticed that there are no caveats in the Ten Commandments? No disclaimers, no asterisks with miniscule print accompanying their twins at the bottom of the page, no howevers, no but ifs, no neverthelesses… It’s just straight up truth. God doesn’t say, honor your father and mother as long as they’re nice to you; or you shall have no other gods before Me unless you feel I’m doing a lousy job. He just puts it out there – straightforward, matter-of-fact, insistent. You shall. You shall not.

And those of us who trust His truth get it. We know that we shall not commit adultery – regardless of how lonely or seduced we feel when temptation comes. We agree that we shall not steal, lie, or murder – regardless of the need, convenience, or provocation we might be able to conjure up by way of explanation.

So what’s up with Sabbath? Remember the Sabbath day, God says, to keep it holy. Work as feverishly as you’d like six days a week; get as much done as you can, burn the midnight oil if that’s the way you’re wired, move mountains, change the world. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God.

Now I recognize that God seems to have shifted His attention away from Sabbath as Saturday; and that Jesus responded harshly to Sabbath as legalistic dagger-on-a-thread. But has God’s enthusiasm (and insistence) for a day of rest tapered off, become irrelevant, lost its fervor?

I’m pretty sure the answer’s no. Instead, we’ve created caveats. Just for this one commandment, we’ve added an asterisk, a “see below.” Small print.

Remember the Sabbath. Unless it’s crunch time. Remember the Sabbath. Unless work’s been piling up. Remember the Sabbath. Unless there’s an urgent need requiring your attention. Remember the Sabbath. Unless this meeting could close the deal. Remember the Sabbath. Unless guilt looms large and anxiety prevails and just getting this one thing done and out of the way would make the rest of the week go smoother.

So for me, too many times, Sabbath is anything but holy. I try to sneak work in, rationalizing it, explaining it away, smothering the gift of rest given to me generously by God with no strings attached in the headlock of my obsessive drive to find fulfillment in finishing.

Do you think God approves of our caveats, our asterisks? Do you think God watches us violate His command and sheepishly says to Himself, they’re right, it was a foolish commandment, an embarrassment, out of place, inferior to the other nine. How much wiser than Me they are, realizing that instead of trusting and resting, they should finish up.

Nah. Instead He must be saddened, if not vexed, by our disregard for His gracious gift. He must wonder why we just can’t seem to remember… the Sabbath.

When’s the last time you rested, worshiped, slowed down, trusted God to handle what is unfinished while you focused on what is forever settled?