And On the Seventh Day...

“By the seventh day God completed His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done (Gen. 2:2).”

This morning in my Bible Study it was brought to my attention something I had never considered before.  I grew up in a very strict home in regard to what we were allowed to do on Sundays.  Daddy had grown up with even stricter views of Sabbath rest including no movies, no card games, no dancing, etc… Growing up I had more of a Sabbath view of stopping certain things which carried over into my adulthood.  Abraham Joshua Heschel, a twentieth-century Jewish rabbi and author, has turned this inside out this morning with his commentary on Sabbath rest.  His view is that God was still creating on the seventh day for the universe was incomplete.  He talks about the world still needing one more creation which was essential in its completion…menuha.  The Hebrew translation for this word is tranquility, serenity, peace and repose.  After six days of creation, God created rest.  He knew it was essential to show us the importance of this blessing.  We view it as taking away something …time…fun… accomplishments while God views it as adding something…rest, peace, fellowship.

I was asked to recall a time when I experienced a new sense of tranquility, serenity and peace in my life by entering in God’s ‘seventh day’…His rest.  It was for certain in 2006 when I began going more deeply with God.  When I began making Him my priority each and every morning, getting into His word, and making time for prayer is when my seventh day began.  You see, like the universe, I lacked completion.  My spiritual week only had six days which cycled for years in striving and toiling when I was never meant to.  I was living in a cycle of incompletion instead of experiencing the complete rest in my Father.  He created that ‘Sabbath living’ for us to live out continuously.  With seven being the number of perfection in the Bible it is no coincidence that day was chosen for rest.  Without rest and relaxation we are incomplete.  Apart from pursuing our seventh day rest we are imperfect in our peace and serenity. God created what only He could give us…peace, tranquility and serenity.  It is up to us to add that day of the week to our spiritual calendar.  First God created it…now He invites us to receive it.

‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest’ Matthew 11:28.