Riverside Church

“There is a big difference between having questions and doubts and outright unbelief. Unbelief is a settled rejection of God – either a denial that God even exists or a settled pattern of living as if he does not exist. Doubt is not a rejection of God. It is struggling with questions about God and his way with us or with the world. God is still very much in the picture and with God still very much in the picture there is still hope – even if it is not unambiguous hope.”

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“This passage shows us that life can be very hard for the people of God. Sometimes it is easy and pleasant. But sometimes it is very hard. It can be hard for various reasons. But there will be times in our lives when we may have trouble believing a lot of what God says to us in his word about working everything together for good and being a just and a loving and a compassionate God. So that is one thing that this passage shows us. This is the word of God and the word of God is showing us that sometimes the people of God have a very hard time reconciling what the Bible says about God and what their experience of life or their observation of life seems to be saying about God. We can sometimes experience the dark night of the soul where we question God and his ways with us or with the world in general and see life as pointless and not worth living.”

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“God did not rest because he was tired. He rested because “not working” is also worthwhile and valuable. He not only stopped working, he declared the state of not-working on the seventh day to be holy. We might say that he set the seventh day apart for himself. He set the example of taking pleasure in what he had created. He paused to enjoy “not working” and taking pleasure in his own glory as that was reflected in the creation. And, no doubt, part of his pleasure on that first seventh day was receiving the worship of the people whom he had created to serve and worship him.”

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“God gives us a lot of freedom, but he also has a lot to say about how we must live our lives. And one of the areas where God tells us how to live our lives is the overall structure of how we use our time. He tells us to work for six days and to rest every seventh day. This is not an option. We do not have freedom when it comes to this structure. This is a decision that God makes for us. This is God asserting his authority as far as the use of time is concerned. And by submitting to God’s authority over time we are confessing that God is the Lord of our time. He is our creator. He owns us. He gives us time. He has the right to tell us what to do with the time that he gives us. By keeping the Fourth Commandment we are submitting to the lordship of God over our time.”

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“This is the temptation that comes with the things about life in this world that do not seem to fit with a good God who is sovereign over everything that happens in the world. In our text passage, the author of Ecclesiastes is struggling with the fact that so often the wicked do not get what they deserve and the righteous often get what the wicked deserve. The question that raises is, “What kind of God allows that to happen?” and “How can I trust God if he says that those who serve him are blessed and those who defy him our cursed, when that does not seem to be the way it works out in real life?””

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“And so, the rest that we enjoy on the Sabbath is the rest that comes from worshipping God with a clear conscience because our sins have been atoned once for all by the blood of Christ. This is a wonderful part of the promise inherent in the Fourth Commandment. If we keep it as God intends, we experience something of the rest that Jesus gives to those who are trusting in him. A rest that comes from a pure conscience because of the blood of Christ and a rest that comes from delighting in the worship of God in the security of his love and favor. This satisfies the deepest longing of the human soul.”

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“The world says that to find freedom you must define yourself and follow your heart and fulfill your desires. God says that that is the way of death. Instead he calls you to the way of life which involves submitting to the calling that he has placed upon you. The way of life is the way of conforming your will to the will of God for you and one part of that is that you enthusiastically submit to the nurture of your parents. Strange as that may sound in the light of the spirit of our age, submission is the way of true freedom and the way of life and the way of blessing and the way of being part of the work of God which is moving toward the ultimate of blessing in the new creation.”

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“Now if we are in the process of being shaped by the word and Spirit to love God with all our heart, and mind, and strength, what could be more delightful than a day set apart for the worship of God? That being the case you would think there would be little resistance to the idea that God commands us to keep the Sabbath as a holy day. It would be sad if God had taken away this command after the coming of Christ. It would be a loss. It would be the taking away of a blessing and a benefit.”

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra