The Fourth Commandment tells us to observe the Sabbath as a holy day. A day to refrain from our usual work. A day of rest.
My first job in high school, besides babysitting, required me to work on Sunday. That bothered me in light of this command, but every time I left work and headed for evening church services, I believed God understood.
I didn’t realize work included doing the laundry until the month I spent helping my dad 
take care of my mother after she had major surgery.
Their dryer broke while I was there so on this particular Sunday afternoon, between hospital visits, I hung the laundry on the clothesline out back of their house.
I barely made it inside before the phone rang. My grandmother informed me I was breaking the Fourth Commandment by doing work on the Sabbath.
Now, you need to understand…the woman had to stand in a specific spot on the corner of her porch down the road, around the curve, at just the right angle to even see the house, let alone the clothesline behind the pump house in the backyard.
In my mind, she’d gone to an awful lot of work just to spy on what I was doing, so I didn’t feel her judgement particularly God-honoring on the Sabbath.
But I’m wondering, could keeping the Sabbath be a way to keep us from breaking the Second Commandment? The one about idolatry?
Could our work, our profession, become an idol?
I believe so. Idolizing our jobs could lead to idolizing worldly things, which could lead to putting something before our love for God.
In the book of Amos 8:1-8 God showed Amos a basket full of ripe fruit. The fruit represented Israel ripe for punishment. The Lord was angry with the merchants who couldn’t wait for the Sabbath to end so they could “get out and start cheating again”. (vs 5 TLB)
To the peoples’ way of thinking, the Sabbath was a nuisance. It got in the way of expanding commerce. It got in the way of making money. They idolized their work, prestige, and financial gain, so honoring God with a day of rest did not top their to-do list.
In Jeremiah 17:19-27 the Lord warned the people if they refused to keep the Sabbath holy and continued to bring in loads of merchandise through the city gates in Jerusalem, just as they did on other days of the week, he would destroy the city.
Eventually, he did.
Nehemiah had a similar problem. (Nehemiah 13:15-22)
Merchants brought all kinds of wares into Jerusalem to sell. When they refused to stop, Nehemiah commanded the gates of the city shut as darkness fell on Friday evenings and not opened until the Sabbath ended the next day.
One of the things I’m learning about honoring the Sabbath is it helps keep us from chasing things that matter less than our relationship with God. Whatever that may look like for each of us individually.
Plus, I really do not believe it is about whether I do laundry after I come home from church and before my nap on Sunday afternoon.
I wish you well.
