Honor, trust, and obedience

I suppose it would be easy to just skip over this section in which God tells the Israelites to keep the Sabbath.  Easy because Paul wrote to the Christians at Colosse not to let people judge them concerning the Sabbath. 

I’ve written more on this here.

But I think there are some principals that we can take from this passage. 

The keeping of the Sabbath was something that the Israelites did that showed three things. 

It showed that they honored God as their creator.  They remembered his creative work and how on the 7th day he rested from that work. 

It also showed their trust in him.  They took a day off from work, trusting that God would provide their needs, even if they did so. 

And finally, it showed their obedience.  Trust and obedience are very much linked.  Without trust, it’s very difficult to obey God.

Unfortunately, the Israelites failed on all three counts. 

God told them, “If you will only keep the Sabbath, you will find blessing.  But if you don’t, judgment will come.” 

Why?  Because in violating the Sabbath, they failed to show honor towards God, they failed to trust him, and they failed to obey him, even in something that was pretty easy to do. 

Their failure to keep the Sabbath was but a symptom of the overall problem the Israelites had in their relationship with God.

How about you? 

Do you honor God with your life?  Do you remember all that he has done for you, and praise him for it? 

Do you trust him?  Do you trust that his way is best and that he really does want the best for you?  And do you obey him even in the little things?

That’s what God desired from his people.  And that’s what he desires from us. 

May we be a people that honors, trusts, and obeys him.