Yesterday we discussed that God designed humanity to work, and that work is a blessing. We looked at several verses in Genesis that point to our calling to work. But did you know we are also commanded to work in the Ten Commandments?

The Ten Commandments were given to the Israelite Nation after they were freed from slavery in Egypt and were wandering in the desert. The Lord provided the law and the Ten Commandments to Moses to teach the Israelite Nation how to serve Him and live a life separate from that of the pagan nations around them. The Ten Commandments can be found in Exodus 20. It is often said that the first 4 commandments teach us how to be in relationship with God and commandments 5-10 teach us how to live in relationship with others to glorify God.

The command to work can be found in the 4^th commandment:

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)

Often times we hear the 4^th commandment summarized as “honor the Sabbath Day” but that is only half of the commandment. The second half is “Six days you shall labor and do all your work”. Yes, God is commanding us to rest as he did on the Sabbath. But He is also calling us to work diligently outside the Sabbath.

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash