It’s Monday.
Pastor, what are God’s plans for you today?
I understand that in the normal rhythm of life there are unexpected detours, but are you planning to rest today? Are you preparing to recharge your spiritual, physical, and mental batteries?
Sadly, rest is a foreign term for pastors, congregants, and people in general. Few really know how to rest.
Recently my wife said, “We do not work to rest, we rest to work.” While sharing this statement with Rand Hummel, he asked, “How did God set the 24 hour day?” Let’s have Genesis 1:1-5 answer that question.
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Note that “the evening and the morning were the first day (1:5).” God didn’t say this once, but after each of the six days of creation. Don’t miss this. That is so opposite to our thinking. To us, it’s “bring on the day so we can get after it” as the most important part of our 24 hours!
Then God puts the capstone on His creation with these words:
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
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 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.
These words from GotQuestions.org speak more to this topic: “The context of Genesis 1–2 strongly affirms the idea of God’s “rest” being a cessation of work, not a reinvigoration after work. The narrative tells us which things God created in each of the first six days. His power is displayed through the creation of light, mountains, seas, the sun, moon and stars, plant and animal life, and, finally, humanity. There are many parallels between the first three days of creation and the second three days. However, the seventh day is a sharp contrast. Instead of more creating, there is shabat (“to cease or stop”). Instead of God “doing” more, He “ceased” from doing.
God did not merely “rest” on the seventh day; He “stopped creating.” It was a purposeful stop. Everything He desired to create had been made. He looked at His creation, declared it “very good” (Genesis 1:31), and ceased from His activity. In the Jewish tradition, the concept of shabat has been carried over as the “Sabbath.” The Law of Moses taught there was to be no work at all on the seventh day (Saturday). Because God ceased from work that day, the Israelites were to cease from their work on the Sabbath. Thus, the days of creation are the basis of our universal observance of a seven-day week.” (read more here)
Please note the two statements above in bold print, “Instead of God ‘doing’ more, He ceased from doing,” and “It was purposeful stop.”
Pastor friend, would you please take into consideration those two statements against the backdrop of Genesis 1-2? You will never get everything done. You are not the Messiah. You must stop pastoring in the constant fast lane of doing more and make some purposeful stops.
Pastor, how about . . .
- Sleeping in an extra hour or two?
- Taking your wife on a breakfast date?
- Going to a quiet place, a place without distractions, and spending the morning praying, reading God’s Word, journaling, worshipping, getting your soul renewed in Christ?
- Turning off the “go” mode for a morning.
- Doing something out of the ordinary.
And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately. (Mark 6:30-32)
More on this subject next time, including some helpful thoughts for those who are in bi-vocational ministry. Now, go rest.
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