Fourth Commandment

 

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Exodus 20:8-11

The doorway to the problems we had in our marriage was our failure to fulfill this Commandment, when Renato and I did not make time for each other. I wanted to go out and he wanted to stay home and sleep. When we stayed home, I was upset and when we went out, he was upset. Our seventh day was not the Lord’s but ours.

Many think that this Commandment talks about the Sabbath itself, but I have a different understanding. The Sabbath is the seventh day, in other words, it is the last day of the week where you have to stop working and dedicate this day to God. This doesn’t mean that you have to stay all day on your knees praying, so much so that the Lord Jesus worked the most on this day.

We sanctify our Saturday when we stop thinking about ourselves and think of our neighbor.

Have you noticed that we take time for many things and not for people? We take time to work, to take care of our home, to get beautiful, to rest, etc… When was the last time you took time for others?

Today, this is something rare. Children do their best to stay away from their parents. Siblings don’t have time to talk. Parents don’t have time or patience to spend time with their children. Husbands don’t like to spend time with their wives. Wives don’t like to spend time taking care of their husbands. Friends don’t have time to keep their friendships.

Now imagine with God? If people don’t have time for one another, how will they have time for God?

 Contemptible
 

Malachi 1:7

You offer defiled food on My altar, but say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the LORD is contemptible.’ NKJV

Some find it convenient to seek the gift, not the Giver.

QUOTE OF FAITH

In what way have we defiled You?

I want to grow, but no one gives me an opportunity
  

People who hold mediocre or small job positions usually complain there’s no space for growth in the company or no opportunity for them to occupy higher positions.

More often than not, this is a wrong idea. Yes, it is true that in any firm or institution nepotism, politics and corruption may occur. But that also happens among people who hold a small or less important job position. That is just a part of life.

However, what many people fail to understand is the law of rarity: everything that is rare and scarce are of value; everything that is common and ordinary are devalued.

This law is observed easier in times of crisis. When companies need to cut down their expenses, therefore they consider laying off some employees. Then comes the tough call: Who should we keep and who should we let go? One of the main criteria, considering the company’s survival, is to keep those who bring in more revenue. That is where the essential ones are kept and the expendable ones… are fired. Therefore, there is no crisis for those who make themselves indispensable.

Now I ask you: becoming an indispensable employee is a decision taken by the company or the employee himself?

The truth is that leading entrepreneurs have a hard time finding talents to occupy positions that hold important responsibilities. There’s no lack of educated people, or people trying to use the company as a way to advance in their personal career, or even people willing to follow orders like a robot.

But there is a lack of leaders, people who think, who are interested  in making the difference, problem-solvers who take the initiative instead of waiting to be told what to do. There are lots of vacancies for these, but a huge lack of people with such qualities to fill them.

No one has ever said that the world of business is fair. Injustice happens everywhere. The difference is between the victims of injustice who only complain about it and those who believe their potential is greater than any injustice, therefore, they’ll prevail — whether in this or the next company, or maybe even in their own.

Consider your past
 

When God commanded Moses to build the Tabernacle in the desert, He was specific about the details of each utensil so that everything went according to His Will. Among the many important utensils of the Tabernacle, God ordered a Bronze Basin to be built, though its dimensions were not mentioned in Holy Scriptures. It was located between the Bronze Altar and the Tabernacle. It was not for offering sacrifices; it was for the priest to wash his hands and feet.

He made the laver of bronze and its base of bronze, from the bronze mirrors of the serving women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Exodus 38.8

This verse tells us the Bronze Basin was made from the bronze mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the meeting tent. These women forfeited something that was once an object used for their vanity, thus revealing the importance of being unattached to everything when the time comes to approach God.

When the priest approached the Bronze Basin to wash his hands and feet, he would contemplate his reflection in the bronze and water. There, he would meditate about everything he had done with his hands and the paths in which his feet traveled until then. If the priest entered the Holy of Holies with his conscience tainted because of a sin, without remitting them, he would drop dead immediately before the Glory of God.

In the Bible, Bronze symbolizes God’s Justice; this is, God is good, merciful and gracious, but He is also Justice and does not accept those whose lives are on the Altar to walk in corruption. This is why the Lord warns in His Word:

Now, the Lord of Hosts says this: “Think carefully about your ways”. Haggai 1.5

Today, the Bronze Basin is our consciousness and also our heart, because they reveal our situation before the Lord and the light of God’s righteousness in our lives, like the polished bronze reflected the image of the priest.

After all, one day, we will all stand before Him and have the image of our consciousness reflected before the Justice of His Glory.

Always on the Altar.

Second Commandment

 

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Exodus 20:4-6

This second Commandment compliments very well the first. After making it clear that He is the only One, one of His biggest differences is precisely in this Commandment: He does not need an image to be recognized, appreciated or served.

All other “gods” need to be physically seen in some way. Not the God of Israel. He is the invisible God, and to have contact with Him you need to have faith. Faith that He is listening to your prayers. Faith that He understands you. Faith that He is present, even if your eyes can’t see Him.

Now you understand better the Bible verse that says:

Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” Hebrews 10:38

Only through our faith we are able to communicate with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When we are in doubt, undecided in life, fearful, concerned it is because we are far from Him…

All that He asks of you is to believe in what He promised in such a way that you live according to His Word without the need to have favorable circumstances around you.

People distance themselves from God because of this — they want to see, hold, touch, hear and feel… all because they did not see immediate results of their faith. For not always feeling His presence. For not being able to resist the pressure of sin. They want to treat God as they treat the other “gods” out there, that can be carried around, used, wrinkled, hung and can get lost.

He who lives by what they see and feel, can only achieve what this enables them to reach. He who lives by what they believe, achieve what they could never reach: God and all His promises.

Do not Fear
 


Isaiah 54:4
Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame.
Fear is the anticipation of the awful. Do not fear!
QUOTE OF FAITH
Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed.

What did Abraham want the most?

Most likely, the answer automatically popped into your mind: “A child, of course”. But, in fact, Abraham wanted much more than that, as we can tell from his actions. The desire that burned inside his chest was not simply to receive – a blessing, a son – but was to give, to be a blessing, and bring forth a nation for the glory of God.

What Abraham wanted the most was not a child. If all he wanted was a child, he would not have sacrificed him on the Altar – after all, he already had him! What Abraham wanted the most was to please God.

Actually, there was one point where all he wanted was a child. Abraham’s vision was focused on this. Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless? Genesis 15.2 Immediately, God took him outside and showed him the stars in the sky. So, Abraham’s vision was opened.

From that moment on, he realized that what was in question was not his own plans, but the Plans of God. Suddenly, his request that, until then, seemed so great, became insignificant compared to what God wanted – after all, what is a child compared to a nation? The hero of the faith realized that a child was enough to satisfy his needs, but not enough to satisfy the needs of God’s plan. Soon, all he wanted was to please God, meeting the needs of His project through the nation that would be born of him.

When we realize that what we have and want is small compared to what God has and wants, we will no longer be afraid to sacrifice, of giving whatever it may be. Even feeling the pain throbbing in his chest, Abraham gave his son on the Altar because his vision was no longer Isaac, but the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea. His dream was God’s dream, and Abraham knew that God would never ask him to do something that would hinder His own dream.

Maybe your solely focused on a child – the solution of a problem, whether it is in your family, love life, finances or health – and have not understood the greatness of what God plans to do with your life. Perhaps this child is enough for you, but it isn’t enough for God. And what do you want the most? Please yourself or please God? Hang on to what you already have and want, or hang on to what God has and wishes for you and for mankind?

Abraham was not selfish. On the contrary: he was not afraid to let go of his dream for the dream of God. And, after all, do you know what he understood? He would not need to remain without his son, he just couldn’t have his heart in him. And because Abraham’s heart was not in his son – but in God –, the Most High could grant his desire, and add even greater achievements in his life.