Get Real November 23 Devotional
November 23, 2024
EXODUS 20:8-11 | 8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or
female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day;
therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
It fascinates me that the Ten Commandments are found twice, in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Deuteronomy’s version of the Sabbath command is justified with a reference to the great tribulation of slavery in Egypt. No nation of freed slaves must enslave others and make them work unceasingly. The Exodus version is presented differently, referencing the creation, when God worked six days and then rested on the seventh. But perhaps these two versions are closer than they appear. God’s intention for human freedom and joy is not only built into our natures, it is built into Nature itself! We have rhythms in us, called circadian rhythms, that relate night and day and govern our sleep patterns. They are internal clocks that are set to the rhythm of the universe! The rest rhythm, based on light and darkness, is matched by a spiritual rhythm—work and rest, creation and renewal.
Do you have a spiritual rhythm?
