Day 266: Why the Sabbath Matters

Revelation 10; Nehemiah 13; Psalm 104:24-35

Why is John eating a scroll, and why is sweet in his mouth but bitter in his stomach? Sometimes Revelation is so weird. However, I think by saying to eat it, it is instructing him to take it, "ingest it" sort of, as in memorize it, meditate on it, make it part of who you are. It's very sweet going in, it may be good at the beginning, but the more he chews, the more he thinks, the more time that passes, it will become nasty at the end. This could symbolize how things will be in the end times. Things may start out great, but they will turn bitter.

Nehemiah had been trying to return the people to God's favor by having them live according to God's word. It was not an easy task. It's like they read God's word and instantly forget what it taught them. The people were supposed to take care of the priests, but Nehemiah finds that some of them went back to their farms because the people did not provide for them. This reminds me of churches today that can't support a pastor because they aren't willing to give some of their own money. We as Christians need to support our pastors so that they can be blessed by it and do the work of The Lord.

 Next, Nehemiah realizes that people are working on the Sabbath. This doesn't seem like it should be a serious sin, but I think the heart of the matter is very serious. The only two reasons to work on the Sabbath are a) you don't trust God to provide and so you feel you have to continue to work to bring in money, and b) you are greedy and want to earn as much as possible and 7 days of business is better than 6. Both of these are very dangerous and do not reflect faith in God or an attitude of submission to The Lord. Nehemiah stopped all of that immediately by simply closing the gates on the Sabbath. People literally could not come in and sell stuff and even slept outside of the gates overnight. That reminds me of Black Friday and how people will get so crazy to buy stuff and get a "good deal" that they will spend the night in front of their favorite store.

Finally, Nehemiah gets mad because the people had been marrying foreigners. But I thought we were supposed to reach out to others? We are, but the problem with this action is that the people were unable to be faithful to God and would pervert their relationship with him because of the influence of pagan gods from their spouses. That's why it was a big deal. And Nehemiah put a halting stop to that too.

This psalm closes with an interesting comment: "I hope my thoughts will please you, because you are the one who makes me glad." Sometimes people look at my life and are so complimentary; however, what they don't see are my thoughts. I may do a decent job of not being a mean person on the outside, but how often do my thoughts reflect my selfishness and pride? God alone can see those and I believe they come from a heart that still isn't consumed by Jesus. My pride and selfishness need to be replaced by humility and compassion so that God can be pleased with them. I, too, hope my thoughts please God!