Fully Devoted: CreationSample

God Created Rest

Over the last few days, we’ve looked at Genesis 1 and 2 to help us understand some of the biggest questions in life: Who is God? What does it mean to be human? Why do relationships matter? What is our purpose?

Today, we’re going to learn a powerful lesson from the last day of creation. It was on the seventh day of creation that God rested:

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all 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 2:2-3 NIV

You might be asking yourself this question: “If God’s so powerful, why did He need to rest?”

There are three main reasons He rested, and they are all intentional on God’s part and good news for us as His people.

1. God rested to enjoy a relationship with His creation.

Imagine you have a Lego set that you’re really excited to play with, but in the process of building and putting it together, you keep feeling like there’s still more work to be done. So you keep working until it’s perfect—except you’re never able to actually get it just right, so you continue working on it endlessly.

If that were to happen, you would never truly be able to enjoy the thing you created.

God rested on the seventh day so that instead of working on His creation, He could simply enjoy a relationship with His creation. It would be really difficult to build meaningful relationships if we just went around trying to work on other people all the time. It’s when we take a step back from working and rest, that we get to enjoy the work we have done. And how comforting to know that the world works in a rhythm where work and rest are intended to make life enjoyable.

2. God rested to set an example for His creation.

Have you ever met someone who worked so hard and fast through life for so long that they crashed? Or maybe someone seems to be busy all the time, and now they’re completely overwhelmed and stressed out—to the point where it seems they’ve forgotten how to have fun.

That’s exactly the opposite of what God wants for us. He might not have needed to rest in order to refresh Himself, but we absolutely do. As human beings, we’re limited and finite creatures. It’s easy to keep going and doing until we wear ourselves down. And in the same way that God rested from working to enjoy His creation, we are also to rest from working to enjoy our Creator.

This is where the Jewish practice of Sabbath comes from. Once a week, Jewish people would refrain from work, and instead, enjoy time with friends and family, and create space to connect with God. When Jesus talked about the Sabbath, He said it was created for us by God as a gift.

Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27 NIV

That’s what rest is supposed to feel like—a specially crafted gift from God to you. When we understand this, we can embrace our limits instead of being frustrated they exist.

3. God rested to reveal His character to His creation.

To read the Bible wisely, we remember that Jesus is King and context is everything. Every page and passage leads us to Jesus and helps us live like Jesus. When we understand the context, historically and biblically, it unlocks the meaning of what we are reading. Knowing the context of Genesis 1 and 2 is a game-changer when it comes to understanding why God rested.

These words we’ve been reading in Genesis are often attributed to Moses, shortly after the people of God had been set free from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. Generation after generation of the Hebrew people lived and died as slaves. They were indoctrinated by the Egyptian worldview and oppressed by the tyranny of Pharaoh, a man who claimed to be a god.

When God selected a seemingly ordinary person named Moses to partner with Him in the rescue of His people, everything changed. God demonstrated His power through a series of ten plagues, each one precisely aimed at undermining the might of the Egyptian gods. In doing so, it showed that God was better and greater than any other god people had imagined.

So now, as newly freed people on their way to the promised land, being led by the visible presence of God in a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night, they weren’t asking questions like we might be asking: So how old is the universe exactly? Were the seven days of creation meant to be taken literally, or was that all metaphor?

What they wanted to know was: Who is this God? What does it mean to be His people?

This is what makes God choosing rest on the seventh day so significant.

For the first time in generations, God’s people were given permission to rest from their work. In this, they understood more of who God is—a loving Creator and a good King. A God who shares His very best with us and longs to walk, work, and rest alongside us.

This wasn’t just true for God’s people back then. It’s still true for God’s people now through the person of Jesus who describes what He’s like with these words:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

The seventh day of the creation story is more than just a day off. It’s an invitation to find real rest in the mighty hands and humble heart of our Savior King, Jesus. It’s an invitation to remember and to trust that your value doesn’t come from what you do; your value comes from the God who made you.

Journaling Questions

• Write a verse from today’s reading in your journal. What are some misconceptions about rest that you have held?
• What might it look like to follow God’s example and create space to enjoy your relationship with Him and others this week?
• What would change in your life if you operated from a place of joyful rest instead of constant stress?

Memory Verse

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 NIV