Finding Time for the Fourth Commandment
Lenten Devotional Series Day 16. Today’s meditation is on Exodus 18:13-27.
Doesn’t the fourth commandment seems antiquated in the modern world? We’re too busy for Sabbath-keeping; there aren’t enough hours in the day. But God made time—and us. Is his purpose in this commandment merely to confirm and demonstrate our own sinfulness? Or does he genuinely intend for us to keep it?
Immediately prior to God’s gift of the Ten Commandments in Exodus, the Israelites learned a lesson that would make the fourth commandment a blessing rather than a burden. Moses thought he didn’t have enough hours in the day. But his problem was boundaries rather than time. He hadn’t heard the old maxim, “Need does not constitute call.” Moses was trying to control more than God had given him to steward. When his father-in-law, Jethro, saw it, he said, “This is not good.” He warned Moses of the risk of burnout and failure: “you will wear yourself and these people out.”
God’s solution—voiced by Jethro and recorded for all posterity—involved clarifying Moses’ calling, and then delegating to others what was outside of Moses’ sphere of responsibility. Moses followed Jethro’s advice, and there was peace, both for the people and for Moses. Having clarified boundaries and responsibilities, the Israelites were able to receive the fourth commandment as a blessing rather than a curse.
In a world filled with options, our challenge today is in distinguishing between God’s genuine call on our lives, and those other things we want to do or think we ought to do.
We are strangely ingenious in perpetually seeking our own interest, and what worldly souls do crudely and openly, people who want to live for God often do so more subtly, with the help of some pretext, which, serving them as a screen, stops them from seeing the ugliness of their behavior. (Francois Fenelón)
God has called each of us to a particular sphere of responsibility. Not only has he given us skills for our individual vocations, but also the time we need. Leland Ryken puts it this way: “If God is the one who allots us our time, we have reason to conclude that we have sufficient time to do what God wants us to do.”
When it comes to remaining within God-given boundaries, there is no better model than Jesus. He is the only man who ever finished his work. Jesus certainly didn’t do all that everyone wanted him to do. But he did finish what God had given him to do. (See John 17:1-4.) On the cross, he said, “it is finished.” (Jn 19:30) As those he died to save, we will have all of eternity to thank him for remaining faithful to God’s calling on his life.
In the Exodus, God rescued the Israelites from enslavement—where neither vocational ‘boundaries’ nor Sabbath rest were possible. He reminded them of their appropriate spheres of responsibility, and then gave them the Sabbath as a gift, rather than a burden. Likewise, Jesus frees us from enslavement to sin. Then he empowers us, by his Spirit, for specific kingdom vocations. If we will faithfully live within the boundaries God gives us, the fourth commandment’s weekly rhythm of work and rest will bless and enrich our lives.
Today in prayer, begin with the Collect of the Day (below). Consider whether this is true in your life: “I don’t have time to do everything I’m supposed to do.” If so, perhaps you need to ask God for deliverance from enslavement. Or perhaps you’re exceeding your God-given boundaries, and you need to ask for God’s help in saying no to those things which he has not called you to do, and yes to those things which he has, including the fourth commandment’s weekly rhythm of work and rest. Give thanks to him that he has given you enough time to do what he wants you to do, and then finish with the Lord’s Prayer.
The Collect of the Day. Almighty God, you see that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: guard us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.