Confidence 3

Exodus 20:7-8

As a child the general consensus was that a person should never use the name “God” as part of any curse, even though a common swear begins with it. For fear of uttering the Lord’s name incorrectly I almost reached a point where I was afraid to ever speak it in any circumstance. There are some who may agree with this type of thinking, but as I have matured I think the mandates of God are less about filling us with paralyzing fear and more about pointing our attitudes in the right direction.

God’s instructions to Moses and the Israelites continue in this passage. What is the third commandment? What is the fourth?

I don’t think we should be afraid of speaking the Lord’s name. I believe the misuse of God’s name is less about speaking incorrectly and more about the value we should give to God. Likewise, the Sabbath may not have to be a day where we refrain from all activity, but we should value time with God.

In our current society it seems more and more people toss the concept of God around in conversation without realizing or understanding the honor and respect we should be giving. The name of God is invoked in blessings and curses and bantered about in conversation without any recognition of how important God should be to us.

Similarly, every day of the week has become like any other. Our work and play fill our days from Sunday to Saturday, and we don’t allow ourselves any space to spend time in the presence of God. All of our other obligations and activities have begun to crowd out the Lord. We just don’t have time to worship, to pray, to be in the presence of God. And “God” is a concept that can be ignored or discussed without any emotional attachment.

I believe these are all violations of the third and fourth commandments. If we will truly worship God we must have the confidence to obey His rules, and part of this is offering due respect to God, treating any mention of the Lord with real reverence. And part of that reverence is to value the relationship we have with God, deliberately setting aside time in our busy weeks as a Sabbath to the Lord, time to be with God in worship and prayer.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you offer respect to God? How can you remember the Sabbath?