The Day of Rest

We all need a day of rest.  If you are a high school or college student, you are going to go to classes five days a week.  You also may be involved in a sporting event such as football or field hockey.  On Saturdays your time will be consumed with an important game and getting caught with your homework and studying.  Finally, on Sunday you can sit back and put your feet up and relax.  You needed this day of rest so you can start the next week feeling refreshed.

That is why God commanded us to observe and respect the Sabbath.  He made us in his image.  If we want to retain that image, we must rest.  Otherwise, we will wear our bodies to beyond recognition.

Genesis 2:1-3

1.       1.  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2.      2.  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3.      3.  And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. (KJV)

On the sixth day the world was created in full and God saw what he had made and was satisfied.  His creation was perfect and he knew he did not do anymore to add to the world.  But when he rested on the seventh day, did he sleep and recover from his exhaustion?

Personally, I do not think God ever needs to sleep.  I do not think he was even tired while he created the world.  I think he took a time out to sit back and admire his creation.

I am involved with a little creation project of my own.  Our porch has been sitting neglected for years.  It was basically used as a holding point for stuff that we normally do not use.  Throughout the years, I have weeded through it and either stored stuff in the attic or threw things out.  Now we have room in it where we can sit and watch the going-ons in the neighborhood and to admire the beauty of God’s painted sky as the sun sets.  However, there was a problem because the porch was half painted.  It was a pale blue and the other part was brown tile.

I decided to do a painting project.  Since the pale blue was catching dirt easily, I decided to go with a darker country blue.  I decided to do the walls first then do the ceiling, which will be white.  I know that I should have done the ceiling first, but they are going to require more work than just a coat or two of paint.  It will take me longer than a week to paint my porch and it will not be perfect.  However, on the day after it is completed, I plan to sit on it and admire my work.

Exodus 20:8-11

8.  Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9.  six days shalt thou do labor, and do all thy work.

10.  But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, mor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thys tranger that is within the gates:

11.  For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the Seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Did you ever wonder why so many people consider the “Number 7” to be a lucky number?  It is not a coincidence.  The seventh day is a holy day and people tend to tie this number with the Sabbath.  The sad thing is many people do not see the direct link.

Reference:

The Holy Bible, King James Version.