Scriptural basis of the Sabbath
God made the Earth in seven periods or days. But on the seventh day He ended his work… and He rested. (Gen 2: 2) He then asked the same of man—that he do all his labors in six days, then rest on the seventh. This was his request to Adam in behalf of all men. Eventually this request ended up as one of the Ten Commandments given to Moses in behalf of the children of Israel… “Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day (Deut 5: 12-15).
The Lord was very serious about this law. At one point an Israelite man decided to gather sticks on the Sabbath. Let’s read what happened to him… “they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, the man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died: as the Lord commanded Moses (Num 15: 32- 35).”
Although today very few seem to think of Sunday any different than other days, there is no indication that this law was ever revoked. In fact, Jesus himself reconfirmed the Ten Commandments and the apostles continued to uphold them as well.
My story of getting Sundays off
As I got old enough and got into the workforce, I too was very serious about keeping the Sabbath. I would not accept jobs that required this. If Sunday work was needed, I requested that I not work this day, and my request was granted.
When it came time to decide my life’s work, for some reason this concept did not seem to come into my consideration—only how much I wanted to become a pharmacist and the interesting things I would learn in doing so. But when I became licensed, unfortunately it became necessary to do so on an every other weekend basis. I reasoned within myself that there are many other good people, as well as latter-day-saints that must work on Sunday—Firemen, policemen, and several other pharmacists that I knew of. I reluctantly settled into this situation and did so for several years. However, eventually—at least for me—I began to feel like I was missing something. I felt like I was being passed over when others were being asked to serve. I was not there with my family on what seemed like what should be a family and worshipful day. The weeks I did have off I truly appreciated. I felt close to the Lord and to my family and part of the whole process, but again I felt this needed to be a part of every week, not just every other week.
I decided I needed to at least try to get all Sundays off. I tried other areas of pharmacy with great effort and sacrifice without success. Eventually I decided to gather up as much faith as I could and began to earnestly pray that I could somehow have Sundays off. I did not know how it was possible, but I did so anyway.
It wasn’t very long and, as happens quite often, I got a new partner—I believe he was Hindu. He asked if he could have Saturdays off. Apparently this was his holy day. I agreed if I could get Sundays off. This worked out very well for me. My prayers were answered.
After about a year however, this partner was transferred to another store and I was to get someone else. I thought within myself, “well, so much for that. It was great while it lasted.” Then I found my next partner had an interesting request as well. He had another job and wanted Monday thru Thursday afternoon off. I in turn got Thursday afternoon thru Sunday off.
This pattern (of getting partners that worked with me to get Sundays off) continued. Through the years I cannot say I got all Sundays off, but I have had several other partners with many different scenarios, and except for one brief period, the result was that I ended up with Sundays off. Some were simply kind enough to rearrange the schedule.
At times company policy changed that resulted in the same. For example, at one point, as it was looking like I would have to go back to Sunday work, policy changed that allowed us to use our vacation in separate days rather than in weekly periods. For a long while I took advantage of this using my vacation days to get a paid day off on my Sunday. When policy changed again not allowing this, I sacrificed nearly $1,000 per month for several years, with no second thought, giving away this day of work to my partner as overtime for him that he gladly did. I was blessed enough to not miss that money at all. Then they decided overtime cannot be scheduled, but other non-overtime help must be requested instead. At the same time our store picked up a great amount of business and we needed additional pharmacist help and for a while I was able to request that help on my Sunday in the form of a floater pharmacist. About the time they decided I could not do this, we were assigned a part-time pharmacist to work only our store that I could schedule how I wanted. The person assigned to us only wanted to work every other weekend and one other night per week. My partner was good with me using her on my Sunday (since weekends were actually easier to work than weekdays). She worked my Sunday for several years. Then just 3 months before I retired, they decided that all additional part-time help must go through a central scheduler which put her at other stores. She did not like this and she quit. So, I did as they said and again requested help on my Sundays. This worked up until 2 weeks before I retired and they decided all days off with pay must be approved beforehand. I happened to have extra vacation pay I needed to use up and they allowed me to use it to continue Sundays off until I retired. I don't think I worked a single Sunday the last several years I worked.
I would estimate that more than 300 pharmacists worked for the company at a time and no others besides myself that I knew of got Sundays off. I did not feel that I was somehow better than them, but I did feel blessed.
How much I appreciated and felt honored at having the blessing of Sundays off. I feel I have been greatly blessed for doing so. To others it is an easy day to work, but I didn’t mind working a little harder or getting paid a little less for it.
In all of this process I have become very cognizant of those that do come to the pharmacy on Sunday. After all, if they did not come to buy on Sunday, I would not have to be there when I did work it, to serve them in the first place! I would often evaluate to myself--do they really need to be here on this day? Couldn’t they come on another day? In my personal and unscientific evaluation, I would estimate that only 5 to 10% of Sunday shoppers really need to get their medications on Sunday. But even most of those, with more careful planning could do it on another day if they really wanted to.
How much did the Israelite man really need to gather sticks on the Sabbath? Perhaps he underestimated on his Saturday gathering and he was cold. Perhaps he had children that scattered or ran off with his gathered sticks. Or perhaps he just forgot until too late. Whatever the reason, the Lord thought it worthy of death.
I realize that some things cannot be avoided. Some will need to be served on Sunday. Some will need to work to serve those in need. We should not judge. In any case, I make sure that I do not add to that need if at all possible. I have heard many interpretations of what activities are or are not keeping the Sabbath day holy. Whatever that may be, I do not want to be any part of a reason to make someone else have to work on Sunday and deprive that person of blessings that could be otherwise observed.
There are many things we mortals do not understand—things that we must take on faith. This commandment is probably one of them. Why did the Lord rest on the seventh day and require the same for man? We can only speculate—for example, some may assume that the body needs to rejuvenate. Or maybe we need to respect what the Lord has done for us and learn gratitude by making this day different than the rest. Or perhaps we need one day to buoy us up for the other 6. These are all good answers, but the best answer is… because the Lord has commanded it.
