“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” —Isaiah 58:13-14
Reading: Psalm 42
Sunday is a day when many seek their own pleasure. All sorts of pleasure-giving events and activities are being scheduled on the day appointed by God for rest and worship. Many of these functions would be quite legitimate on other days of the week, but they have no place on the holy day of the Lord. Those who violate the Sabbath day by doing their own pleasure may think that they are having a good time; but how inferior their pleasure is to the delight and joy that God gives to those who obey the fourth commandment.
The fourth commandment is not to be considered merely as negative. It does not simply forbid our doing certain things. It would also have us actually delight in God’s holy day and take real pleasure in the opportunities for worship, devotion, and service that this best day of the week provides.
If we belong to the Lord our God, and if we seek our joy in the things that please Him, and if as the deer pants after water brooks our soul longs after God, then the Lord’s Day will be to us a delight, holy to the Lord, and honorable—a day when we will truly delight ourselves in the Lord.
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