Rest

So I started reading through the Bible in a year again today. The reading for today was Genesis 1-3. I am very familiar with this passage so I prayed that God would show me something new or with fresh eyes today. I love how He loves to answer our prayers to speak to us through His Word!

So what stuck out to me today: REST.

I don't even know how many times I've read the creation account. I grew up hearing it, I've taught it to my children, and I've taught it to other children. I know that seven is a number of perfection in scripture, and I know that creation took 6 days and that on the seventh day, God rested from His work. I guess what I've never thought about was what God resting looked like.

          “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of
           the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”
           ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40:28‬ ‭

From the above scripture, I had known that our perfect infinite God does not grow tired the way that we finite beings do.  I never thought about Him as resting by taking a nap like we might because I know God does not require sleep. Honestly, I'm just not sure I ever really thought about what God resting meant. It's funny how we can read something over and over, know it as fact, and yet never really think much about what it means.

           “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was
           evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” Genesis‬ ‭1:31‬
           “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

In the passage about God resting, the Hebrew word shabath is used. It means to cease or rest from work. To rest because of being tired or weary is another word. When I look at the passage, I do not see anything specifically that God did except rest because He was finished with His creation. I do see  that right before He rested, He said that everything He made was very good. I can just start to picture His rest as "sitting back" and admiring His finished work like an artist might put down his paintbrush and stand back and look at his masterpiece.  He rested in Himself, and He calls us to come and rest in Him as well.

I know that God is speaking to me through this, telling me to rest, to really sit down and rest. I need to rest in Him, to "taste and see that the Lord is good."  I need to "take heart; He has overcome the world." I need to see the "very good," to think about "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise."  I need to just rest in His goodness and grace. I need to cease worry and cease trying to do everything myself. I need to rest in His completed work, to rest in His perfect plan.  I need to rest "in God alone," fixing my "eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith."  (‭‭Psalm 34:8, John 16:33, Genesis 1:31, Philippians‬ ‭4:8‬, Psalm 62:5, Hebrews 12:2)

There is so much more to study here, to learn about rest, about Sabbath, about celebrating the creator, our little foretaste of heaven where we, His people, will worship Him face to face for all eternity, forever resting in Him.

What a perfect start to my reading, to find God calling me to rest in Him, knowing I have 364 days of readings to find rest in Him!