Rhythms of Rest

The Sabbath, in Biblical times, was a major thing with a major offense if you didn’t majorly observe it. New Testament made a big deal about it too (remember the pharisees losing their miiiiiiinds when Jesus was healing and teaching? how could he…)

Exodus 20:8–11
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 

 

God, the creator of all things, rested. And I, a creative, get pretty busy sometimes and forget to do this… after all, I have deadlines. But I won’t pretend to be better at this ‘creating’ thing than the One who did it all. So I must rest…
…to stay inspired.
…to recharge.
…to breathe.
…to draw closer to God.

I think God knew what He was doing in created us. I think He knew that we’d need it. And so, one of the things I think we should do is do things on the Lord’s day that refresh us for His service, intellectually, physically and spiritually. So if you sit at your desk all week, then experience the outdoors. And if you work on the farm, breaking your back all week (which is what they did in the Old Testament), then sit down and take a long nap.

Just take one day in seven and set it aside as the day when you are physically recharging.
He told us to rest, and He told us to make it holy.

What are the things that draw you closer to God?
What are the things that ignite the creativity in you?
Are there certain places? Certain people?

I am not a robot and I am DEFINITELY not God.
And so I must rest.
I am so desperately in need of these rhythms of rest because they help me be the kind of creative and caring person I long to (and He created me to) be.