This is the fourth installment in The Western Journal’s series “Biden Breaking the Ten Commandments.” Click on the following links to read the series introduction, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
Why did God rest after creating the heavens and the earth? Obviously, God does not grow tired; he’s an omnipotent being with infinite power.
Yet he made a point to rest on the seventh day. But why? The answer to that question reveals why the Fourth Commandment is so important.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)
God blessed the Sabbath — a short period of rest after a longer period of work — by partaking in it himself. This tells us that the cycle of work and rest is baked into God’s very nature.
It follows that the Sabbath is a fundamental aspect of all creation. It is the rhythm of the universe.
Though, as Christ said, the Sabbath was made for man and not the other way around (Mark 2:27), we abandon and disregard it at our own peril.
It’s a shame our nation’s progressive leaders have been so willing to lead us down that path.
The Importance of the Fourth Commandment
During World War I, the wheat business was booming. According to History.com, skyrocketing demand from Europe and the resulting price hikes encouraged American farmers to harvest more and more wheat. Between the 1910s and ’20s, millions of acres were plowed to match the surge in demand.
Then came the Great Depression.
Wheat prices plummeted. In a panic, farmers responded by plowing even more grassland and overworking their fields. As a result, the land eroded and soil began to blow away in massive dust storms that ravaged the Southern Plains and exacerbated the ongoing economic devastation.
This all happened because the land was farmed continuously without rest.
We can see the necessity of the Sabbath cycle throughout nature. After an extended period of work and growth, crops, plants, animals and other natural phenomena need a short period of rest and renewal. Otherwise, they’re worked to the death.
Mankind is no different. We follow this rhythm of creation.
Like all the commandments, the fourth has two purposes: It honors God, and it benefits mankind.
Studies show our productivity is actually increased when we take time to rest. The Sabbath was made for man.
It should also be noted that while the Fourth Commandment centers on the need for rest, it requires us to work: “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work.”
Hard work is passionately endorsed throughout Scripture. We are called to work productively just as God did when he crafted the universe. But also just as God did, we must set aside time to rest.
Subverting the Sabbath Cycle
Within the American context, the example of Sabbath subversion that most readily springs to mind is the workaholic.
Rather than working for Christ, some people choose to work for themselves and their ambitions. They abandon their day of rest. Instead of worshiping God, they worship their work.
This has been discussed ad nauseam — rightly so — by American pastors whenever the Fourth Commandment is taught. But too often left undiscussed, in this writer’s opinion, is the other extreme.
The promise of wealth and privilege found in the West can certainly entice some to overwork and under-rest. But it can also encourage others to underwork and over-rest.
While some work for themselves and therefore worship their work, others rest for themselves and worship their rest.
Theologian John Piper described both excesses in American life and how they reflect a sinful frame of mind.
“There is the real possibility that a person may work six days because he is in bondage to work. He is into ego. He is into finances. He is into escaping home. And that would make working six days a sin.
“Or it may be that a person wants to work as little as possible because he is lazy and hates his work. And so that would make his working five days a sin,” Piper said.
Bidenomics Undermines the Sabbath
By teaching men to become lazy and hate work, the Biden administration undermines the Sabbath.
This is done via all sorts of policies.
In March 2022, economics researcher Rachel Greszler noted how the Biden administration’s entitlement policies had kept a large number of job openings from being filled.
“With 11.3 million unfilled job openings — more than twice the historical average — there are now a record-high 1.8 jobs available for every unemployed worker. The failure of roughly 3 million workers to return to the labor force [after the COVID pandemic] is a drag on our nation’s economy that has contributed to the 40-year-high inflation we’re experiencing,” Greszler said.
“The Biden administration’s welfare-without-work policies are the primary culprit for these consistently bad numbers. These policies have diminished the value and need for Americans to work.”
If Biden wanted to stop inflation, he would stop pushing trillions in new federal spending and call for reforms to our welfare system that encourage able-bodied Americans to work.
Instead, his new budget proposal shows he will do anything but.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board calls Bidenomics “a gusher of unprecedented and unnecessary social-welfare spending … that has made Americans poorer.”
Helping those in need — charity — is far different from paying people not to work.
Government entitlement programs virtually always do the latter, and it should be no surprise that the most progressive administration in American history is pushing such programs to new heights.
As a result, the healthy balance of work and rest that has helped the West prosper over the centuries is beginning to fall out of favor — and Americans are paying the price economically and spiritually.
Keeping the Sabbath Holy
Above all else, the purpose of the Sabbath is to keep us God-focused.
We are to spend our day of rest in worship. It is a time to remember that we work so hard during the week for the same reason we take time to rest at its end — in honor of the one true God.
A common theme you’ll find throughout this series is that the Ten Commandments are interconnected. When you upset one law, often the others are affected.
In the first three installments, it was demonstrated exactly how the current White House regime has worked to replace God and forward false idols, all while taking the Lord’s name in vain.
The Biden administration’s actions have a downstream effect on American culture and values.
Because so many now worship the god of government and other false idols — following our leaders’ footsteps — the Sabbath is not being kept holy as God commanded.
