The Gift of Rest

Oct 19, 2022

In Genesis 2, nearing the end of the Creation story, scripture says:

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work.
- Genesis 2:2

The story of the creation of the universe begins with God working, and wraps up with God resting. Following six “days” of creating the world, it’s over. The wonder and splendor of the universe is “completed.” This always comes to my mind when I think that I’ve had a productive week.

**Following the last day of creating and working, we come across an extremely important line of scripture - we read that God rested. God rested.**

The Almighty God - Who has no need for a nap, a break, or a three day holiday weekend. Who doesn’t get tired or worn down. Who is beyond compare in ability to absolutely anything or anyone else in the all of existence and eternity - took time to rest.

And (don’t miss this) - we are made in His image.

We were created with the purpose to mirror who God is and what He stands for here on earth.

God creates, works, plans, builds, and we do the same. God rests, so we rest. Working and resting live together in a symbiotic relationship, I believe. If you don’t take time to learn how to rest well, you’ll never fully learn how to work well, and vice versa.

Work and rest are friends, not enemies. They’re two rhythms that come together to form a full, well-rounded life.

Sabbath can sometimes be confused as a day to just not work; when in truth, it’s a day built to fully delight in what an ancient Hebrew poet dubbed “the work of our hands.” To experience delight and joy in the life that you’re putting together hand in hand with God. To delight in the beauty and wonder of the world around you. And, most importantly - to delight in who God is.

The day of Sabbath is for looking back to the work put in over the last six days, and just enjoying it.

The word rested that we find in Genesis 2 translates to the word shabbat in Hebrew, which is where we get the word Sabbath. In its literal sense, it translates to “to stop”, “cease”, “be complete”, and also translates to - and this is my favorite - “to celebrate”.

People in Jewish culture have been regularly practicing the Sabbath for - well, pretty much basically EVER. And there’s a lot we can learn from them! They use another Hebrew word, menuha, which translates to “rest”, but not just any kind of rest. This kind of “rest” doesn’t just mean passing out on the couch for 7 hours over a Saturday, it’s a kind of rest that’s rooted in celebration! We can also see it translated into the word “happiness.” Doesn’t that just sound sweet? And - this is important - in Jewish culture, you don’t just experience menuha, you create it. The point of the day isn’t to sit around and let another day slip by - it’s to cultivate a space, an environment to enjoy your life fully, your world fully, and your God fully. And in this, it becomes more of a baseline rhythm of your life and being than just a day on your weekly calendar.

I know I need menuha, sometimes pretty desperately. The good news is: That’s what the Sabbath was created for.

It’s a day where I do all I can to make sure my eyes are on God. A day where I’m openly available to my wife, my family, and my friends. It’s a day where I don’t have a “to-do list”. A day where if I don’t accomplish anything, I don’t feel guilty about it.

I try (and sometimes fail) to have it be a day where my phone is turned off and up on a shelf, where not just anybody or anything can get ahold of me. A day where connection is brought to an analog point, so I’m not risking a digital distraction from… fill in the blank (it’s literally a basically infinite rabbit hole to go down that is so difficult to climb back out of.).

It’s not a day to go out and buy or sell - to receive the rush of getting more. It’s a day to find joy and peace in what I already have.

**The Sabbath is a day for menuha, a day for celebrating the gift of life in a world created by and held by a Good God.**

Back to the creation story for a moment. Following six days of God creating the universe, He rested. By doing so, God created a rhythm that runs through creation itself. One based out of working for six days, resting for one. I believe that this cadence of working and resting is just as important to our humanity as water or food or oxygen. To me, it’s necessary for true survival, even though it’s so much more than that - it’s flourishing! We’re humans created by God in the image OF God. All I want to do is put in the work for six days and then experience the joy of rest for one, right in line with the wonderful God whose image I’ve been blessed enough to bear.

Following God resting, we read this:

Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.
- Genesis 2:3

There’s two interesting words that I want to look at here - blessed and holy.

In Hebrew, bless translates to the word barak. Barak within the story of creation is imbued with the meaning of the live-giving ability to procreate - to create MORE life. God barak’ed (yeah…that works) three times within Genesis. The first time, God spoke blessing over all living things by saying, “Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Following that, He blessed humanity by saying precisely the same thing. Following that, He blessed the seventh day.

In order, God blessed the living creatures, then He blessed humanity, then He blessed… a day. You might be wondering how that works exactly, and that’s fair!

Here’s the deal: The Sabbath has a beautiful life giving ability to procreate - to put more life into the world. It doesn’t matter how much you love the work you do, or fine tune the balance of your office/your life. When you reach the end of your week (more often than not), you’re spent. You’re tired. But (and here’s the wonderful thing), rest has the power to refill us - to gift us with new energy, vision, strength, joy, clarity, creativity, and most importantly, hope.

To sum all that goodness up, rest is life-giving because God blessed the day of Sabbath.

One more Hebrew translation, stay with me, I promise we’re almost there!

We read that God made the Sabbath holy. In Hebrew, it translates to a very important and weighty word - qadosh. It also translates to “paradise”, “purity”, “holiness.”

**So, what does God make holy? What does God make qadosh? TIME.**

Our God can’t be found existing in a specific space - a temple, the top of a mountain, a spring tucked away in a hidden valley, a statue or idol. No, He’s found in the world of time. The ebb-and-flow of it all!

We all, for six days, fight with the world of space - it’s difficult work building a life, providing for a family, taking care of kids… (you fill in your blank). But, on the day of Sabbath, we relish and are called to live within the world of time. We take a moment to slow down, take a sweetly deep breath, and take it in for all that it is.

To provide a visual, we push the slow motion button on our lives. In such a sweet way, it’s a day where the goal is to savor every single second, because every single second is holy.

It’s a day holy to the Lord. It’s a day dedicated to the Lord. It’s not only a day created for rest, it’s a day created for worship.

Here’s a good practice that I’m still working at every single Saturday (my Sabbath). I run any activity or idea or invite through this test: Is it rest? Is it worship? If both questions point to yes, then I fully jump in and delight in it. If the answer is no, more often than not, I hold it off until the next day.

This is because Sabbath shouldn’t be identical to a day off. When you get a day off, what do you do? You don’t show up to the office, but you still work. You mow the lawn, you go grocery shopping, you work on that remodel project, etc.

Here’s the beauty - on the Sabbath, you just rest and worship. And that’s it!

Think of it like an awesome weekly holiday. When’s the last time you woke up on Christmas morning and thought to yourself “What sounds good today? What day is it again?” No way! You get READY for it. You plan, you prep, you shop and look forward to it days ahead of time. Adopt the same thought pattern for your Sabbath day. I’ve made a practice of running my errands, cleaning our house (dishes too), replying to those final emails, buying ingredients for the meals tomorrow, all on Friday, the day before my Sabbath, so that I can be as distraction free come Saturday!

Here’s the important piece: There’s a true rhythm to this world. There’s six days where we subdue and work and labor alongside God. But then, we take an intentional step back, and for one day, we sabbath. We take a beat to enjoy the fruit of our labor, to find delight in God and in His world, to fully celebrate life.

Our God is inviting us with open arms to join Him in practicing this rhythm of work and rest.

And when I don’t (I’m speaking from experience here), I know I experience fatigue, burnout, anxiety, busyness, starved relationships, beaten down energy levels, tension, emptiness - these are all marks of a life without rest.

The Sabbath CAN be skipped - it’s not a sin, but I do believe it’s necessary to our humanity. In the scriptures, Moses calls the Sabbath a gift, and I believe that’s exactly what it is. Identical to work, when we do it right, it’s a pure act of worship. Rest is just the same.