A Third Blessing

The first two blessings recorded in the Scripture were spoken over living creatures.  This happened on the fifth and sixth day.  The third blessing took place on the seventh day.  "And on the seventh day God finished the work that He had done, and He rested...So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work He had done in creation."  (Genesis 2:2-3)  While every day is an important day, the fact that God chose to speak a blessing over the seventh day truly sets it apart as both holy and special.

 

Some can remember when laws forced the society around us to outwardly recognize and pay allegiance to the seventh day being a holy day.  At the beginning of my lifetime, very few places of business were open on Sunday.  If gas was needed for travel, it was purchased on Saturday since no gas stations would be open on Sunday.  It was a different time than now.  Of course, as my life gets closer to its 70th year,  a business being closed on Sunday is the exception instead of the norm.   The idea of Sabbath rest is largely thought of as an anachronism.

 

Still, the Word says it is a day of blessing.  It is blessed by God as no other day.  One of the real spiritual struggles for many believers is learning how to live faithfully midst a cultural that ignores Sabbath rest.  While Sabbath rest is interpreted in many ways by well intended folks, surely it is a day for more simple living.  When observed and valued it becomes a day that is indeed set apart for holy purposes.  Worship with other believers may be a part of what that means, but to stop with that one act and declare that we have honored what God has put in place may be falling short of the mark.