Exodus 34:21 — Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. (ESV)

I love to sit on our Lanai to do my quiet time. It’s not really quiet, but the little lake and the surroundings provide a sufficient barrier against the industrial and traffic noises to make it a good spot for devotions.
Sitting this morning I was amused when one of our neighborhood coots let out one of her usual fierce squawks of outrage — whether at her children, her mate, or an unseen predator, I do not know. But it caused me to think about the Sabbath … which is an odd thing for a coot to do!

Ducks, you see, keep no Sabbath! “And why should they”, you might say, “they have no souls”. True enough … but there are plenty of other Sabbath-breakers to consider. Indeed, we might reckon we are perilously close to having no Sabbath at all. It was not to be this way!

God gave us a very clear design for our working life. Six days to labor, one day for rest — that very important time to turn away from our workaday concerns and relax and focus on other matters. The model was quickly broken when sin came into the world as a result of Satan’s machinations, so that some work would always be necessary — but even then six days sufficed for all normal work.

For thousands of years the Jews, and then the Christians, followed God’s plan — but then came the Industrial Revolution.

The first impact of the Industrial Revolution was to drive the laboring poor from field to factory — and factory owners had no compunction about imposing a seven-day work week. In the second half of the nineteenth century, however, a trend started which initially seemed beneficial but which has, in the longer run, been terribly damaging.

The well meaning social consciences of the late nineteenth century pushed for the restriction of working hours and the introduction of the assembly line fueled a drive towards a standard five-day working week. Through the twentieth century and into the twentyfirst the seven day work week has been replaced to a drive towards increasing leisure — and now for many people all days are alike. It’s as if people want the commandment to be “one (or fewer) days shall you labor and six days (or more) shall you rest”!

The Sabbath was made for man — but it wasn’t meant to be seven days long!