Delighting in the Lord's Day

One part of God’s perfect design for us, yea, designed even from the beginning, before Adam’s disobedience, and modeled by the Lord Himself during the week of Creation, is one day of rest in seven. It was further commanded on that great day when, amid the exceeding loud blasting of the trumpet, and the smoke ascending as the smoke of a furnace, the Lord descended with fire upon the top of Mount Sinai, and spoke these words, even Ten Commandments, which He later engraved upon stone with His own finger:

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work… For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11).

What tremendous blessings result from obeying this command! Each blessed Lord’s Day, I love resting from my own works, my own concerns and responsibilities, and focusing on His. I try to retire to bed early each Saturday to prepare my mind and rest my body for the coming day, that no fatigue distract me from devoting it fully to Him.
    
My day begins with a joy that continues throughout the course of the day. I sing to myself while readying for the meeting of the church; I pray and meditate on God’s Word during our long ride; I greet everyone with a great smile and hug, enter into worship with a thankful heart, listen eagerly to the sermon, taking extensive notes. The second service I embrace the little ones in the nursery, who are usually delighted to see me; we sing praises to God, and before snack I encourage each one to lisp out his own little prayer. I could go on and on; my day is filled with such delight. After breaking bread with fellow believers, my family goes to meet at another assembling of saints, where God unfailingly imparts to me the grace sufficient for the week ahead. I am always sad when the day is over, but I am also cleansed and renewed, eager to begin a new week of trusting God and serving Him with purity of heart. 

The Lord’s Day is undeniably a very sure way to keep us faithfully following Him. For six days we must labor to provide ourselves with earthly needs like food, shelter, clothing, and transportation, but His day we devote to feeding and clothing our spirit. We reflect on the previous week’s defeats and victories, recognize the Hand of God, repent of our impure hearts, and resolve to overcome. The public worship and praise to God refreshes the heavy spirit and rejoices the weary soul. The preaching of the Word and the sweet fellowship of the saints teach us the ways of God, build our faith, and strengthen us for the challenges of the coming week. Filled with faith, hope, and love, we are ready to face our trials with patience and perseverance.

"A Sabbath well spent brings a week of content
And strength for the toils of the morrow
But a Sabbath profaned, whate'er may be gained
Is a certain forerunner of sorrow."

How inspiring to think every holy, blessed Sabbath of the literal millions and millions of people around the globe, in every time zone, gathering all hours of the day to bring praise to the Almighty God! How it must bless Him! Yet at the same time, I consider how it must also grieve Him to see the countless homes where on His day never a Bible is opened, nor a prayer said, nor a voice uplifted in praise.  

Years ago, when this country reverenced the holy Sabbath, criminals would confess that they began their career of wickedness by a neglect of the duties of the Sabbath and by vicious conduct on that day. I would argue that still today, when men begin neglecting the meeting of the church and instead follow their own pleasure, they stand in danger of neglecting God and turning away from following Him.
 
Notice the extensions of this command:

“In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates” (Exodus 20:10).

Fathers are commanded not only to honor the day themselves, but also to ensure that their whole household is also honoring it! Wow! When you behold a family convened one day in seven for the purpose of acquainting themselves with truth, you behold a family who weakens the power and breaks the yoke of sin. For how, indeed, can any sin persist long when you are weekly purging it from your heart and life?

"If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah 58:13-14).

This, then, is the spirit of the law, not following all the regulations the unbelieving Pharisees added, but calling the Sabbath a delight and honoring the Lord by not doing our own ways nor finding our own pleasure.