“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. ” (Genesis 2:1-3, ESV)
As we begin our daily Bible Reading for 2010, we are blessed with the story of the creation. The creation story is pretty well-known, but as you read into chapter 2, it is obvious that we are reading the completion process of the creation. On the seventh day, God finished His work and rested. I know that there are many theological arguments that can be made and are made. Putting them aside in the context of this brief posting, I want to focus on the model of resting that God gives us. God models rest. Rest is part of the created order. It will later be commanded because of man’s fallen nature. Rest is important to our created order. Yet, we have lived and we continue to live in a world that pushes us further and further away from rest. I myself have struggled with rest…endless deadlines…the demand to put more hours in…the weariness and exhaustion…selfishness… narcissism, etc. Why? Many of the projects once important are no longer satisfying. Is Genesis reminding us that God created all things and that we are under His control? Rest is essential for us to be what God intended.
At our church, we have been participating in 40 Hours of Prayer. In one of my prayer sessions, I was focusing on rest. To be quiet and listen to God. I had the hardest time. I could not be still, I was constantly interrupting the quietness with thoughts of things that need to be done. I felt as if my prayer had to be a to do list. I had to mark off each person on my list I was praying for. Is rest, is quietness, is being still and knowing who God is an activity or is the moment set aside for rest, a moment when we need to listen? I believe that quietness is not a time of emptiness, or worthlessness. In reality, these rare moments of quietness and stillness when we can really be still and rest, we come to know God. It is that moment of rest that is holy, it is a moment when God speaks and we are in awe of the silence. These are moments of substance!
Question:
What does rest mean to you? How do you dedicate (make holy) time spent with God? If God modeled a time of rest, why don’t we?
Related posts:
Randy, with regard to your 2nd question, I’ve heard a good model for prayer is the “ACTS” model — Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. How I “dedicate time spent with God” is to modify ACTS slightly to add an “H” before the “A” — Humility. I recognize that I’m an imperfect sinner in the presence of the Perfect, Almighty God. That always sets the mood.
Another thought I had for this reading was to wonder why God rested. He certainly didn’t need to. What, He was tired from 6 days of strenuous creation? Hardly. You already stated in your post why God rested. You said, “God models rest.” So the point is that God didn’t rest for His benefit; He rested for ours. Just as a parent models proper behavior for his children, God modeled proper behavior for His children. We would do good to heed His example.