Rhythm & Rest
by Gary Johnson
Can you believe it? July has arrived and the year is half over! With July 4th this week, untold millions of people will be on vacation, which should be a time of rest. For some people, vacation means pursuing an event-filled itinerary or working on a project at home. Throughout this month, we’re going to take a look at how Jesus rested, how He practiced sabbath.
In 1930, brothers George and Ira Gershwin composed a song that was made famous by many performing artists like Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald and Ethel Merman. The song I Got Rhythm quickly became well-known in the world of jazz. If I can be candid, I can honestly say, I’ve got little or no rhythm and it has nothing to do with music.
In Genesis 1, God created more than earth and the expansive universe. He created measured time, and a vital element of measured time is the rhythm of rest. By the end of the sixth day of creation, God completed the entire universe in its vast array and then He rested. And so must we.
When a nation is born, one of the first tasks to pursue is the writing of laws. When the United States came to be, our founders wrote the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and other governing documents to serve as a foundation for our country. Similarly, when the Israelites were rescued from slavery in Egypt and God birthed them as a nation, He gave them laws on which to build their country, such as the Ten Commandments. The Fourth Commandment speaks to the rhythm of rest.
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. (Exodus 20:8-11)
This is the longest Commandment. God said more about resting one day a week than He did about lying, stealing or murder. Also, this is the only commandment of ten that is a spiritual discipline, that when practiced, moves us into a deeper, healthier relationship with God.
The word “Sabbath” in Hebrew is the word Shabbat and it means “to stop, to cease.” God commanded us to stop doing what we are doing the other six days in a week, and to literally rest on a seventh day. The sixth command is, “don’t murder anyone,” but if we keep working seven days a week, week after week, we will kill ourselves.
The Sabbath – or Lord’s Day – provides us with some R and R. It’s a day to reflect and to rest. We worship the Lord on His Day, reflecting on who He is and what He has done. We reflect on His death and resurrection as we participate in the Lord’s Supper. Following our time of reflection (i.e., worship), we have a day to enjoy some rest! God set this example for us during the first week earth’s existence.
God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day. Thus, the heavens and the earth were completed in their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so, on the seventh day He rested from all of 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 1:31 – 2:2)
Does this mean that God needed a nap from being exhausted? Not at all. We associate resting, the pausing from work, with being exhausted, so we assume that God became tired and needed rest. Isaiah 40:28 declares, "He will not grow tired or weary..." Psalm 121:4 states, "... (God) will neither slumber nor sleep." God did not rest because He needed sleep. Instead, it means that reflected on His work. God looked at and enjoyed His completed work. In creation, God created a rhythm of rest.
And having been made in His image (Genesis 1:26), we are to do the same. We work for six days and rest for a day, stopping to enjoy the work of our hands. This is like a person planting a garden and then eating its produce or picking its flowers. This is a person painting a picture, building a table, etc. and then enjoying what has been made. The rhythm is to work six days and then rest for a day. That’s easier said than done.
My wife and I took some ballroom dance lessons, but as hard as we tried, we struggled to develop a “dancing” rhythm. Similarly, I struggle to develop a rhythm of rest. I live with a never-ending to do list. I multi-task, talking on the phone, sending a text, reading emails and all at the same time. To pursue a rhythm of rest, I must rely on the Holy Spirit. After all, my body is His temple (1 Cor 6:19-20) and He gives me power to pursue rest – and I’m actually enjoying this.
The Word says, “This is love for God: to obey His commands and His commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). So, God commands me to rest – to sleep in from time to time, to take a guilt-free nap every so often, to enjoy a sunrise or a sunset, to play with my grandkids, to wake up at the sound of birds singing, to enjoy a British murder mystery with Leah and a bowl of popcorn, to go for a walk or hike, to bake a cake on Saturday and then admire the cake on Sunday while eating it—with ice cream!
Jesus said to His disciples, “…come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31). Being that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8), He wants us to do the same. Enjoy some sweet rest.
