Exodus 35:3 “Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”
Two days ago, we touched on the prohibition regarding the lighting of fires on the Sabbath; however, there is far more that should be pointed out. In The Rational Bible: Exodus, Dennis Prager explains that the Sabbath is to honor God as the Creator, who brought something out of nothing. Lighting a fire is prohibited because lighting a fire is the closest human act to creating something out of nothing. But there is more to the explanation.
Prager explains, “Not only does fire seem to come from nothing; it also has the unique power to transform everything it touches. Everett Fox alludes to this: “Since the Shabbat was apparently to be static in nature, or at least transformative of time alone, fire (which by its nature causes chemical changes) could not be employed. : The Sabbath is a time to enjoy the world as it is. The uniquely transformative entity – fire – thus becomes the archetypal Sabbath prohibition.”
APPLICATION: How many of us really enjoy the world as it is? Video games that allow us to create our own farms, towns, cities, etc., leave us with the notion that we are really in control of things, that we can become our own little gods creating things. But at the end of these games, we still must deal with circumstances that force us to realize that we are NOT in control! If the recent pandemic has taught us little else, it should have taught us that our circumstances can be thrown out of kilter without warning.
For many of us, our regular jobs involve transformations of one sort or another. Health workers are concerned with helping people get well. Teachers want to impart knowledge and skills and see their students develop. The examples are endless. Many of us measure our successes by the transformations we can bring to our areas of expertise. We are like old fashioned children’s tops – spinning, spinning, spinning! But for each one of us there comes a point at which we must stop or the centrifugal force of our lives will pull us apart, causing pieces of our emotions to fly off in all directions.
I am unfortunately very familiar with the phenomenon of burn – out; I have burned out on at least two occasions. The World Health Organization says this about burn – out: Burn-out is defined in ICD-11 as follows:
“Burn – out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:
- feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
- increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and
- reduced professional efficacy.
One of the key signs of burn – out is a feeling of desperation that things are getting out of control. The natural response to this feeling is an attempt to increasingly control everything possible – events, family, jobs, etc. Those in burn – out are trying to transform their environment to suit themselves. Since control of this type is an impossibility, the next response is to become angry and to try even harder to control things. As the person in burn – out becomes increasingly angry, everybody around that person backs off, fearing for their emotional safety. Burn – out causes a person to frighten away the very people who might be able to help him/her. And for many burn – out victims, denial also plays a major role in the process. Acknowledgement of a problem would indicate that the burn – out victim is a failure, an idea too horrible to contemplate. Irresponsible people don’t burn out because they don’t have high expectations of themselves, nor are they concerned with transforming anything or anybody.
Psalm 46:10 says, “10“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.”One of our pastor friends used to say that “God is in management; we are only in advertising.” Sabbaths are designed to help us remember this fact. When we fail to honor God as Creator, we are setting ourselves up as little gods, something for which we are not designed and which will only lead to despair. What is the answer? The answer is to honor God and let Him be the ultimate authority in our lives, to stop striving to change or to control everything around us, to rest.
PRAYER: Father God, HELP! We are stuck! trapped by our own circumstances that we have tried to control! We don’t see any way out. But YOU know us better than we know ourselves, and You can deliver us. Your Name is Redeemer; please redeem us from our sins, our failures, our mistakes. Help us to recognize YOU as Creator. Help us to rest in the knowledge that YOU know all of our circumstances. And help us to truly love You and serve You all the days of our lives. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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