Sharing a thought with you on this Lord's Day from a devotional reading this week that reminded me why I like to rest on Sundays, my chosen Sabbath. While we aren't under the OT laws, it's still a good idea to stop for awhile. God thought so, too, and He didn't even need the rest.
Slow down and rest: God commands it. In fact, resting is so important that it is the fourth of the Ten Commandments. The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word for "ceasing" or "stopping." Have you ever wondered why God thinks that having a day of "stopping" is so important? The first instance of Sabbath features God himself resting. In the opening chapter of Genesis, God creates everything that exists in six days. And "God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done" (Gen. 2:3). In some ways this seems natural enough; after all, God had just created everything! But every act of creation required nothing more of God than a spoken word. God isn't toiling in sweat and anguish--just the opposite. Every creative act began with a word and ended with the pronouncement, "And God saw that it was good." God effortlessly creates and orders all things to be beautiful reflections of his glory and power. His day of rest is a demonstration of his absolute mastery and the happy obedience of his creation. God's rest isn't a picture of tiredness, but a display of his absolute sovereignty.
Winston T. Smith, in Heart of the Matter
June 13 entry
Image ~ Girl in the Hammock, Winslow Homer, 1873
public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Image ~ Girl in the Hammock, Winslow Homer, 1873
public domain via Wikimedia Commons
