“Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.” Exodus 20:8 Oh, no! Here is comes. A long list of things that I should not be doing on the Christian Sabbath, the Lord’s Day. Whatever you enjoy, stop doing right now. God demands it. Wrong! I am here, not to place a burden on your shoulders, but to grant you a blessed relief and to point you to pure joy. I am a hungry beggar showing other hungry beggars where I found bread. I found bread for my soul and to spare on the Sabbath Day.
In Mark 2:27 we read, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” We do not serve God’s day by keeping a list of rules, God’s day serves us with rest, joy, and peace. It is designed by God to be a blessed day of rest and worship. It is the Market Day for the soul. It is a whole day reserved to walk and talk with God, and to rest in what He has accomplished for us.
God has scattered his blessing throughout the day. He says to us, “I will give you rest.” “I have completed my work, and now you can rest, and look forward to greater rest.” We are commanded to “Call the Sabbath a delight!” Isaiah 58:13 It is a day of blessing, joy, rest, worship, and delight.
But many people do not find it so. They call it a burden. They see it is a duty and not a delight. Over 150 years ago, J.C. Ryle said, “Our Sundays and how we use them is one of the most sure signs of our spiritual condition.” If it is the Market Day of the soul, and it is, we have too much supply and not enough demand. We work 5 days a week, run errands on Saturday, but Sunday is finally our day – a day to do whatever we want, to pursue our highest pleasure.
Yes it is! And what is your highest pleasure? Knowing and enjoying God. Pursuing God on the Sabbath day is our delight. We find it a treasure. It conveys the greatest blessings. J. C. Ryle again writes, “The Sabbath is God’s merciful appointment for the common benefit of all mankind…It is not a yoke, but a blessing. It is not a burden, but a mercy…Above all, it is good for souls.”
So, call the Sabbath a delight, for the Sabbath was made for man.