Ep. 52 | The Rhythm of Rest | Genesis

Listen in as Pastor Eddie Blalock shares today’s daily devotional featuring Genesis 2:1-3. Let’s be Formed by The Word together!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Every story has a beginning. And if you don't understand the beginning, you'll likely misunderstand everything that follows. Welcome to Formed by the Word. Currently, we're going back to the very beginning as we look together at the first 11 chapters of Genesis. These chapters explain our world, our struggles, and much about ourselves. We'll see beauty and brokenness, purpose and pride, judgment and grace. We'll watch humanity fall and see that God already had a plan to restore his relationship with us. The Bible doesn't start with a problem. It starts with a perfect God and that changes everything. So, wherever you're listening, whether you're driving, working out, or just scrolling for something meaningful, lean in, open your heart, because the God who spoke in the beginning is still speaking today.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

I love checking off items on my to-do list. I don't think I'm alone in that infatuation. However, I've also discovered that something strange happens when I check off anything on my to-do list. Checking off an item seems to make my to-do list grow instead of shrink. If yours is like mine, you've noticed that your to-do list never actually gets done, does it? You check off one thing and somehow three more show up. It's like your list is reproducing overnight. You clean the floors and somehow someone walks in with muddy shoes. You answer emails and five more come in. You finish a project and your boss says, Great, now let's talk about what's next. Well, I've also discovered that some of us can find ourselves feeling guilty when we sit still. Like if we're not doing something, fixing something, building something, we're wasting time. Sadly, I must confess that even when I call myself resting, I'm not really always. Sometimes I sit down, but I'm thinking about what's still undone. Even on a day off, I often find myself checking my phone for messages and emails. Even when we go on vacation to rest, somehow we come back more tired than when we left. And I'm not sure we know how to stop. And yet, right at the beginning of the Bible, before sin, before chaos, before burnout, God builds something into creation that we tend to ignore. Rest. He stops, not because he's tired, not because he ran out of energy, but because he's showing us something we desperately need to learn, the importance of having a rhythm of rest. In Genesis 2, 1 through 3, we discovered that rest isn't an interruption in life. So let's dig into the text. Only three verses today, but they're so important and foundational for a healthy life. The first thing we observe is that God finished his work. It says in verse number one and two, so the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day, God had finished his work of creation. Wow, this seems to me to be a rather obvious statement, but I think it's important. We should note carefully that the creation reaches a place of completion. Everything God intended was done. God finished his work. This means the creation means complete, lacking in nothing. God didn't stop because he was tired. He stopped because his work was perfect. Now this reveals something very fundamental that we need to hold on to, foundational in nature. Here it is. God is not frantic. He completes what he starts, and he does so in his own time. Here's an important truth that we learn from this text. We learn that God's work is always complete and sufficient. He never leaves things unfinished. This is sometimes hard for us to understand because it seems we live in a constant state of almost done. So God invites us to trust that he's in control even when we're not finished. You see, God finished the work and then he modeled what to do next. The next thing we observe is that God rested from his work. It says that when he finished, after he completed the work, he rested from all his work. Now, if you think about it, that's a pretty deep thought to ponder. God resting, God at rest. Several questions come to my mind. Did God need to rest? Was he tired? How does God rest? How often does God rest? Just to name a few. The idea of resting is a little more complex than we usually think here. The Hebrew word for rest is shavat. Shavat means to cease, to stop. There may be a need for recovery from exhaustion, sure, but not necessarily. Here and in some other places, it's more of a deliberate pause. God builds into creation a rhythm into its very fabric. So important. The pattern that we see throughout scripture is work, then stop, then enjoy, then trust. For we who are followers of Christ, rest is not simply in activity, it's trust and action. When we rest, we are saying, God is God and I am not. Rest confronts our pride, the pride that tends to think it all depends on me. Rest is helpful because it confronts our anxiety, the anxiety that comes from thinking, well, what if I fall behind? Rest teaches us dependence on a God who is much higher than we are. Think about rest this way. It's like turning off your phone, right? You turn it off not because it's broken, but because it wasn't designed to run nonstop. Well, neither are we. You and I are not designed to run nonstop, even if we're trying to catch up with our to-do list. Rest is in fact pausing and reminding ourselves that God can handle what I can't. The third thing we observe is that God blessed and sanctified the day. It says in verse 3, and God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy. Now, this is the first time in scripture that something is called holy. God blessed the day, he filled it with favor. God made it holy. That is, set apart is the idea. It's not a place, not a person, but time itself is declared sacred. Now there's an important truth here. Rest is not just wise, it is worshipful. God didn't just suggest that we rest, he sanctified rest. So let's put some handles on that just a minute. Ask yourself this question. Do you treat any part of your week as set apart for God? Rest is not just about stopping work, it's about meeting with God. If everything in your life is common, nothing feels sacred. God didn't just command rest, he blessed it. So let's look for a moment at another gem, another gospel in Genesis moment. A couple of things I notice here. Christ did the work to make us into a new creation. Even as God created us in the beginning, Christ did the work to make us new, a new creation. Jesus not only did the work, but he finished it. Jesus said on the cross, it is finished. After he finished the work on the cross, Christ ascended to heaven where he sits, the scripture tells us, he sits at the right hand of the Father. So the sitting implies a rest. So you see, creation was completed in Genesis, redemption was completed at Calvary. And so you and I don't have to strive for acceptance because Christ has finished the work. So just in summary, here we have this important verse. We see God finished the work, that is, we can trust his sufficiency. God modeled the rest, and we should follow his rhythm, and God blessed the day. Honor what he made holy. True rest is not found, my friend, in a schedule. It's found in a savior. You see, rest becomes possible when you trust what Jesus has already done. So the challenge that I want to leave you with this morning are these questions. Number one, where in your life are you refusing to stop? What would it look like to build a God-honoring rhythm of rest in your life? And are you resting in your effort or in Christ's finished work? Here's the takeaway for today from this powerful passage. You don't rest because everything is done. You rest because God is still in control. Let's pray. Father, thank you for my friends who are listening today. And I pray, dear Father, that you would remind them of this important thing we're calling a rhythm of rest, wherein we learn to just stop, to pause, to reflect, to remember, and to worship the God who created us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Thanks for joining us today. We are so glad that you chose to spend a few moments with us in God's Word. If this episode has encouraged you, we ask that you leave us a review or maybe share this episode with a friend. Also, would you consider sending us a note to let us know what God is doing in your life? Pastor Eddie would love to hear from you. You can find this email in the show notes. Until next time, stay in the scriptures, keep following Christ, and allow your life to be formed by the Word.