The Rest of the Story

“And God rested from all his work.”  Why?  Was God tired?  Did “who does not sleep nor slumber” need a nap?  No.

God completed his work by creating rest.
God created rest, not because he needed it, but because His creation does.  The Laws of God are for the good of the created.  In the 10 Commandments found in Exodus 20, God requires us to keep the Sabbath holy unto the Lord.  He commands that we take a day of rest from work and devote it to Him.  In Mark 2, Jesus tells us that man is not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath is made for man.

God did not create us to rest.  He created us to work.  Yet, he created in us the need to rest.  Each of us needs to time to rest and focus.  And that focus must be on Him, not us.  The Sabbath is holy unto the Lord, not unto ourselves. 

God created and commanded you to live in a rhythm of work and rest.
When you defy that rhythm both work and rest become warped.
When you get out of a healthy, God-honoring rhythm of work and rest, all types of problems arise.  It is in these seasons that we typically begin to “cheat.”  We “cheat” work for family and then we “cheat” family for work.  We “cheat” God for recreation and entertainment because we “cheated” rest for work the last month.  The lack of rhythm throws everything off.

Rest is a lordship issue; not a laziness issue.
However, when we do not honor the Lord in rest, it eventually causes a laziness issue.
Marc Driscoll worded this danger reality well.  Without a break you'll break. The question isn't whether you'll stop but whether you'll stop joyfully or painfully.

You must choose to joyfully pause and rest in your daily, weekly, and seasonal rhythm.  God created such occasions from the example of Christ with early morning prayers, to the Sabbath day, to the rest of a field, to celebrations and festivals…God created rhythms for renewal, rest, and rejuvenation.

If you do not honor the Lord with this rhythm, you will eventually dishonor him.  You will find yourself in a place of needing to abandon priorities and bail on commitments, not because you have too much to do, but because you did not honor those priorities and commitments before you had more to do.  Rhythm matters.

When you find yourself out of rhythm, do what great drummers do. Stop, but don’t quit.  Stop, listen, find the rhythm, find your place in the song, and jump back in.  The more responsibility you have the more important this principle is.  Men, when you live out of rhythm, your family does too.  Pastors, when you get out of rhythm, you eventually fall, and so do many behind you.  Stop, don’t quit.