America Suffers for Sabbaths

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All growing up, I have fought with members of my Faith who think that some things are acceptable to do on the Sabbath. Now that I am an adult, I think that most of the ills we suffer, particularly in the blessed land of America, result from our unwillingness to keep the Sabbath Day. I think sometimes when we read scriptures we, in our pride, compare ourselves to Israel and pat ourselves on the back that, although we might be wicked, at least we're not THAT wicked. The scriptures are there however to warn us of what might be if we do not change our ways.

When God gave His commandments, very few of them came with promise. Although when He first delivers them to Moses God doesn't mention the blessing, He covers it later how Sabbath observance will help Israel secure the blessings and rights of God. As I think about all the people I know who think that rights come from government (which is a creation of man), I find it odd that they ignore this vast contributor to our culture as not only irrelevant but also misguided. It has kept the Jews together and alive for longer than any other nation or religion ever has.

Here is the promise, exerpted from Leviticus 26: Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will give you brain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.

God's promise is threefold. First, the land and the people will be fruitful and bounteous. Secondly, the land and its people will be protected and victorious. Finally, the land and its people shall be graced by the presence of God and have freedom under His law.

What America really needs is to follow the Sabbath. Instead, we make every excuse to find things to do that are either inconsistent with the spirit of the Sabbath if they are not in direct violation of the letter of that law. For example, when I moved to Vegas several years ago, I attended a game activity for young singles one Sunday evening. I was uncomfortable enough before they broke out the face cards for Texas Hold'em. I have friends who go hiking or boating to "go find God in nature" but who neither look for Him nor speak about Him much while there if at all. After church last Sunday, I sat in the foyer listening to a man discuss with his children what movie they would watch that afternoon- Universal Soldier or The Shining, neither one of which are appropriate for children let alone the spirit of the Sabbath. These are not evil men; they are doing silly things.

In his groundbreaking work, for which I should now be earning royalties I quote it so often, CS Lewis talks about this. He observes that "Murder is no better than cards if cards will do the trick. Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft under foot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts." Indeed, the tempter is so good at it that he leads us around with a flaxen chord, cheating us by degrees and talking with us about Seemingly Unimportant Decisions (SUDs). "One drink won't hurt." "One smoke won't hurt." After he lulls us into a false sense of security, pacifying us that "it's not that big of a deal" or that "everyone's doing it", we find it easier to justify, and we're paying the price.

Failure to obey the Sabbath has undermined the nation's greatness and moral fiber. Even for families that were busy, the Sabbath used to be that one day a week as was true in my father's family when the family gathered together and parents taught their children. In his farewell address, Reagan touched on this topic by saying,

"I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual. And let me offer lesson No. 1 about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do."

As Reagan prophetically warned, the erosion of civic ritual, the observances of things that contribute directly and positively to cultural and personal morality rely on parents gathering together to teach first what it means to be a child of God and then what that means in the context of the nation where they reside. I testify that as soon as Americans sit around on the Sabbath doing what they ought that our nation will see a return of the blessings promised this great land by its Creator.

America isn't what we see at the Olympics, on the news, in a political campaign or an advertising one. It is in the faces of our children on a Sunday afternoon, guided and fed by the activities in which we allow them to engage and in which we take the lead as parents in the home. It is found in the kitchen, around the table, as we gather together to talk, to pray, and to enjoy the company of family members when the sun goes down, that we can find solace in our homes when all the turmoil of the world rages outside to our ruin. Those other things are outside evidence of inside character, and the character of our nation has been weakened by our failure to worship and obey that God that gave our nation and its Constitution life.

I have many friends who seem to think that rights and our nation are not products of God. They are arrogantly proud, so full of hubris they cannot possibly be the rational beings they purport themselves to be. Even though Curiosity landed on Mars last week, we still get caught up in our own self-import, ignoring the fact that people and this earth are wholly insignificant on a universal scale. Our value comes because we are Created, and our Creator has an interest in our survival and success. Until we give Him back His day, we cannot expect or hope for His help, and we have never needed it more.