Deuteronomy 5:12-15 (NRSV)
Read Deuteronomy 5:12-15 on biblegateway.com
Verse 12Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Verse 13Six days you shall labor and do all your work. Verse 14But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work-you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. Verse 15Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
Devotion
God seems pretty determined about the Sabbath. “Keep the Sabbath” is one of the “Big Ten” of the commandments after all! The command is restated throughout Exodus and Deuteronomy and beyond.
Most of my faith teachers have invited me to see all of God’s laws as God’s gifts to help build and sustain faith-active people in community. Today’s reading joins the many other references to the Sabbath in explaining that giftedness—the promise of rest for all in the land and a reminder of God’s ancient saving actions. With such a depth of potential blessing, it seems odd that this command seems to be one the most easily “broken.” I reflect on myself and how easily I neglect the deep blessing God offers in Keeping Sabbath. How can it be so hard to take time to soak restfully in the Sabbath of my Lord? It has become very easy to fail to remember how God has brought me out with a mighty and outstretched hand of love.
Prayer
Eternally Creative God, send your Spirit to remind us of the blessings of Sabbath Keeping, so that we may dwell ever more fully in its rich gift. Amen.
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