How to Live the Bible — The Rest of God

This is the one-hundred-seventy-first lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.

“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

A University of Chicago medical study has shown a link between sleep deprivation and obesity. Other research shows that teens put themselves at risk for cognitive and emotional difficulties, poor grades, and accidents if they deprive themselves of sleep. What can we learn from this? When we try to burn the candle at both ends, we end up being the ones who are burned.

Genesis talks about the “rest” of God. But why would God rest? Was it that creating the universe was terribly taxing on him? Or maybe the real effort was in creating the planets—bringing together just the right amount of matter, cooling it down, and bringing about life. Was it difficult for God to create humanity? Was it then that God sat back and said: “I’m exhausted.” No, it wasn’t like that. The rest of God was the day he said: “There. That’s that. Sun, moon, planet, rain, jungle, mammal, fish, man. Here is my masterpiece.”

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The Hebrew word shabbat (from which we get the word Sabbath) literally and simply means to cease. To stop what you are doing. To end one thing you’re doing so that something else can happen. God did not shabbat on the seventh day because he was exhausted to the point of collapse. He stopped because he was finished with what he intended to do, and then he went on to do other things. Like taking care of this incredible world he created.

And so a pattern was set for the whole universe. All of life would spin in cycles. Day gives way to night, and then night is broken by the dawn. We loop around the sun. Dry spells last for a season. Spring keeps coming. We get to go to sleep at night. Every day is a new beginning.

One of the commands of God—a most serious command, repeated as much as any other command in the Old Testament—is that we choose to shabbat. To stop. Not a rolling stop like a novice driver slinking through a stop sign, but coming to a full stop. And then starting again.

God came to a certain place where he stopped and let his glorious creation shine. And he invites us to do the same.

APPLICATION

Find a half-hour sometime today to stop all your normal activity. Go to some restful place and think through what God has created in your life. Give thanks to God and tell him what parts of your life could use a rest at this time.
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Mel Lawrenz (@MelLawrenz) trains an international network of Christian leaders, ministry pioneers, and thought-leaders. He served as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, for ten years and now serves as Elmbrook’s teaching pastor. He has a PhD in the history of Christian thought and is on the adjunct faculty of Trinity International University. Mel’s many books include Spiritual Leadership Today: Having Deep Influence in Every Walk of Life (Zondervan, 2016). See more of Mel’s writing at WordWay.

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