Monday, June 20
The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them. By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.
Genesis 2:1â€-‬3 ESV
God didn’t rest because He was out of raw materials.
Or out of time.
Or because He was distracted.
God rested on the 7th day because that was an intrinsic part of His character. Rest, in the most basic way, is a part of who God is. It’s one of the primary things we notice about God in the very beginning of the Bible, and it will return over and over again.
The fact that rest is a big deal for God shines even brighter considering that God, eternal into the past and eternal into the future, took time (God made time!) to rest. It was an activity that He deliberately made room for and took part in.
Separating light from darkness, making plants, hanging planets, breathing life into Man, inventing the aardvark were all amazing things to do, but the day that God rested and did nothing but admire His work was the only day that was called Holy.
So many times we think that making something excellent or pure or even to the glory of God is what makes it Holy. For God, during the week of creation, the holiness came when everything stopped. It was holy because it was the day that He ceased.
What if 5:00 was the holiest hour of the day, or even Friday at 5:00 became the most holy hour of the week?!
Everyone is sighing and turning off the lights, ceasing from their work and resting, and a holy hush descends over the cubicles and the factories. This is a time of rest.
What does it take for you to cease from something, bless it (be happy with it), see that it is good, and then quit doing it?
How about stepping back and looking at it and admiring it, without adding any more ‘finishing touches?’
What does that mean for my day, or my life, that when God was done creating all of this stuff, He came to a full stop, rested, and looked at it?