Ten Little Rules

Ever had a time when God dropped something into your mind and you thought, “Oh. Okay. That was interesting. I wonder what that’s about?” I have.

One day while walking my dog, I heard God say these words: “Six days shalt thou labor.” I don’t often hear such clear, distinct directives from God, but there it was. I didn’t have to think very hard to know what He was referring to. Over the years I have allowed work, shopping, and other things to encroach on God’s Sabbath day—the one set aside as a holy day—a day of rest. And not unlike the proverbial frog dropped in a pan of cool water which was gradually heated until he was cooked, my observance of the Lord’s Day had slowly given way to shopping and “little” chores around the house, to full-fledged home projects which consumed the entire day. It had become easy to make the seventh day of the week just another day. So when I heard those words in my ear, I knew He was speaking to me.

Every day for a week I heard the same words, “Six days shalt thou labor,” and every day I began to tell God I understood and would honor the coming Sunday as a day of rest. But as each Sunday came, there were errands to run and tasks to do—especially since we had just moved into a new home that needed work. My husband worked 50+ hours a week, and we still had the other unsold home to maintain with lawn work, so his at-home work hours were very limited. How could we possibly get everything done on one weekend day? Three Sundays went by and work was done, all the while my head kept hearing those same words reverberate: “Six days shalt thou labor.”

I told God I understood, but did He? Did He know all we needed to get done with the new and the old house? Did He realize how quickly those hours of the day go by? Of course He knew all those things. Of course He knew how tired my husband was after a long, stressful week and how dividing chores over two days was better than one. But He also knew how tired and stressed my husband was, and how desperately he needed to rest body, mind, and soul. He knew how truly insignificant those “things” are that we strive to get done at the cost of our health--physical, mental, and spiritual.

Again the words came but expanded. “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. Honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy.”  Okay. Okay! This Sunday I won’t work, but that means I have to tell Rob not to work either. I wondered how that would be received since God didn’t tell him that.

Sunday morning came. As we walked our dog after morning coffee, Rob began to list the things he wanted to get accomplished. “Honey,” I began, “God has spoken to me for over a month saying, ‘Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work.’” Then I proceeded to tell him how we could do some minor jobs around the house if he wanted to. His response: “No way! Not after what you just said.” He almost seemed a little happy! Maybe he does need the rest—maybe he wanted the rest but felt he couldn’t ask for it.

I am not a perfect. I strive to please God, to seek forgiveness for the sins I commit and the ways I fail Him every single day. When God recently brought “six days” into my life, I realized something. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of being a Christ-follower, but then I realized I wasn’t even obeying the Ten Commandments! Ten little rules. 

Our focus tends to be on the “big ones”:  murder, committing adultery, bearing false witness. You know... the “obvious” ones; the ones easiest to avoid. But when God hit me between the eyes with commandment number four, I realized I was not as obedient as I thought. Greater conviction came when I realized I had disobeyed for years without it even really bothering me.

I wasn’t resting or honoring or keeping the Sabbath day holy as He had commanded. I could look around me and see thousands of other people doing work on Sunday and try to justify my actions, but He was speaking to my heart.

Someone recently posted a meme on Facebook which stated we have thousands of laws on the books all because we can’t obey Ten Rules on stone. A quick search led to this:

“No one knows how many laws there are in the United States.  Apparently, no one can count that high.”

“They’ve been accumulating, of course, for more than 200 years.  When federal laws were first codified in 1927, they fit into a single volume.  By the 1980s, there were 50 volumes of more than 23,000 pages.”

"New laws mean new crimes. From the start of 2000 to 2007, Congress had created at least 452 new crimes, so that at the time the total number of federal crimes exceeded 4,450." 

(Kowal Communications, Inc. Blog)

“New laws mean new crimes.” Of course. The more you make anything against the law, the more likely it is someone will violate that law. It’s sad that we have come to this. All we had to do was follow ten little rules, but because we don’t, we now have thousands and thousands of laws in place telling us what we can and can’t do. Isn’t the root need for all these laws because we broke or ignored the original ten?

In addition, God said we needed a day to rest. He knew how crazy our world and lives would be. He knew the stress and busyness. He knew the toll it would take on health, sanity, and relationships. He knew we needed a day to simply rest. God Himself rested after He made all of creation in six days. I think it’s probably important for us, too.

But it goes beyond needing rest. In honoring the Sabbath and keeping it holy, we acknowledge who God is. It’s submission to His Lordship. He is our King and we need to honor and worship Him on the day that He Himself has established. 

Will I submit my will to Him, even when I see a huge “to do” list in front of me and have few hours to complete it? Will I recognize that worshiping and spending time with Him is more important than any earthly thing I may need to accomplish? Will I open my eyes to see that when I place Him first, He will enable me to finish the things on my list? If I spend my time resting and honoring and worshiping, my work hours will become more fruitful as He enables, and perhaps are re-prioritized to what He sees as most important. 

Since God spoke to my heart about honoring the Sabbath, my husband and I have made the effort to not work or go shopping on Sunday and it has helped us focus more on God and His word, as well as simply relax and rest. Do we still struggle? Yes, because old habits are hard to break. But God has brought to our attention our disobedience of one of God's 'ten little rules" and now we strive to align ourselves more to His will and commands.

God is always working to conform us more and more to His image. He prods and corrects us when we need it because He is a loving Father who seeks to keep us from harm and to align us with His plans and purpose. The Ten Commandments aren't restrictive, they are God's boundaries of safety and well-being. It's never too late to begin anew. I encourage you to examine your own heart to see what God may be speaking to you. 

Just this week He dropped another of the “Big Ten” into my heart. Let the refining continue!

(Originally published 6/24/20)