Deuteronomy 5:33 –
Stay on the path that the LORD your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
This is one of those chapters you may need to read over and over again. Moses again recites the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel and reminds them of their significance. These commandments are really the only part of the Bible that are documented as being written by God’s own hand and should be taken very serious. Everything else was transcribed by a human for God, but these are His own writings. That alone is awesome, but the more interesting thing is how they are written on every man’s heart.
That is something one may argue but think about it. Almost all civilizations have rules similar to these Commandments. The first 4 are difficult to argue if you do not know God, but the last 6 are very common in most cultures. The first three deal with our relationship with God to make sure we can remain focused on His will by not straying or blaspheming His name. The next deals with a combination of our bodies and our relationship with God making us rest a focus one day on God. The final 6 help us in our interactions with our families and others around us.
This verse is the last one in this chapter and calls on Israel to follow these laws so they can live long and prosperous lives. Oh I could park here for days and discuss how this chapter will result in this promise. We are living in times that are starting to dismiss these and change them to fit their own rule set. Think about the Sabbath where we should rest, that is even being changed by the churches so we rest and go to church. The pastoral staff rests another day and many times we need to rest from our day of rest since we end up doing too many things … it spirals on to the point where work becomes where we end up resting and not being productive to society.
Honestly I think the “design” was we worship on Saturday night and Sunday’s we really rest and do little to nothing. No 100 mile bike rides, or 20 mile runs, or gardening, or kamikaze trips to the mall. Nope just true rest and relaxation, but not taken to the extreme of not doing anything. The key is to let the “batteries” recharge and be ready for the week. Now the irony in today’s world some must do work so we can rest. What happens if the power shuts down? Would you accept waiting until Monday to get your AC working again? If you needed some milk would it be ok to wait till Monday? If you were suffering a stroke would it be ok to hold off going to the hospital till Monday? Should our beliefs keep others who don’t believe from buying a six pack? See it’s easy to say but difficult to apply in a real world situations. Fortunately, thou shalt not murder is easier to follow … or is it?