Holy Rest

Holy Rest

Recently, the staff of Faith Church went on a retreat for a few of days. We rented a house and took some time to spend with each other outside of our normal schedule. Pastor Kirk had the staff read a book in preparation for this trip. We had a great time together, and we had great discussions over the time away.

One of the main reasons the staff takes time for a retreat is because of rest.

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done” (Genesis 2:2 & 3, NIV).

Does God need to rest? God took a break on the seventh day. Why would the creator of the world (God) need to take a break from working? One minor detail in being God would be having an abundance of energy. What if the seventh day of creation wasn’t for God? Instead, what if God was leading by example for us all? There is something holy found within Sabbath rest. Heschel, a Jewish theologian, describes it this way,

“An ancient tradition declares: ‘The world to come is characterized by the kind of holiness possessed by the Sabbath in this world…The Sabbath possesses a holiness like that of the world to come’” (The Sabbath, p. 73).

In some divine way, when we take time for Sabbath rest, we open ourselves to eternity. By resting I am no longer declaring that I am God. In my resting, I am declaring who God is. To take a break and rest is allowing God to be on the throne. When I take a break and rest, I am also feeling what eternity will be like in the future. To be in eternity with God is to be sustained by God.

What about you? When was the last time you rested in God?