Requirement Of Rest

God rested. 

I felt crummy at work yesterday and I just wanted to be at home in my jammies and my bed. As I worked at my desk, I whined to the Lord, “I just want rest.” And as I began to think about the human need for rest, the verse from the creation account in Genesis popped into my mind…”[God] rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished” (Gen 2:3).

All my life I’ve known that verse. But when it popped into my mind yesterday, I thought how strange it was for us to be told that God rested. As difficult as it may be for us to comprehend, the truth is that God doesn’t need rest. As I contemplated that truth, I wondered why Scripture tells us that He rested from all His work, as if He was tired and needed a break. And then the Lord gave me clarity. 

God didn’t rest from all His work because He needed to. We are told that God rested from His work because He was giving us an example. It wasn’t because of His need that He rested, but because of ours. God needs to neither work, nor rest, but from the very beginning He gave us His own example of both. He gave us an example of work that is good and fulfilling, and then a time of contented rest and satisfaction. 

Oh Lord, may we follow Your blessed example of both work that is worthy, and rest that restores. 

(Gen 1:31;2:2) And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good… And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work. 

(Eccl 3:1) There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…

(Mark 6:30,31) The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, [Jesus] said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

(Mark 2:27,28) Then He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”