Pressing Pause

God made us with limits, and that is good

Notice what v. 11 says. That God “rested on the seventh day”. Does that stick out to you in any way? Does God need to rest? No! So why did God rest, then?

It’s like when a new building is about to break ground on construction what Ia company do? It has its CEO come out and “dig” the first shovel of dirt. Is this because the CEO is going to be doing all the construction? No, it is to declare something, that the company is showing the significance of this project to their company.

This is exactly what it tells us. “The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy”. It is God’s symbolic act of saying there is something special about this day.

So what point is God trying to make? That He has made His creation to rest in Him and that we are not like Him. God doesn’t need to rest, He is God. But His creation does need to rest.

Rubber band can only be stretched this far before it breaks

If you stretch something too far it will break. This isn’t just mankind. The earth needs rest. The animals rest. Dogs sleep an average of 12 hours a day and cats 14. Sharks almost never sleep…no wonder they are so angry!

-They didn’t even want other people they employed to work for them. If they lived in our times they wouldn’t go to a restaurant do let someone else labor for them.

-In fact, they had 7 day Sabbath’s, but also 7 year Sabbath’s where they would free slaves, remove debts, give land back to original owners.

But we hardly get rest, we have so many distractions, we always have this FOMO. The world is always turning in to the “Breaking News”. We need rest from the world, from distractions.

God made us to enjoy Him, not just the things He gives us

What does v. 10 tell us? The 7th day is for what? A Sabbath “to the Lord your God”

So what does the word “Sabbath” mean?

“To stop, cease, be brought to a stop”

It is in contrast to v. 9 that says we “labor” and “do all” our work.

So therefore, what this vs. says is that the seventh day is a “rest to the Lord your God”. This means our rest is focused towards an aim, towards God.

Matthew 6:25–34 ““Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Notice what it says? Everything else in creation rests in God, so why should we worry in more than them? We can spend our lifetime worrying about so many things when if we put our rest in God He will take care of our needs.

Psalm 62:5–8 “Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken. My salvation and glory depend on God, my strong rock. My refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him. God is our refuge. Selah”

W see why we should “rest” in God. He is our salvation, our rock, our glory, and we can trust in Him. That if we pour out our hearts to Him that He will take care of us.

There is a simple truth here that feels opposite. Rest in God and God will take care of us, worry about providing your own food and clothes and never stop worrying you have enough.”

God made rest to search our hearts

Hebrews 4:9–13 “Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his. Let us, then, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience. For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.”

Notice that the writer says a “Sabbath rest remains” and that this person who enters it “rests from His works, just as God did from Him”. And that we should “make every effort to enter that rest” so that we won’t fall into sin. Then it makes a weird turn…Why do you think the writer starts talking about the word of God RIGHT after talking about the Sabbath?

What do you think would happen if I took two of your, put you in a room for two hours and took away your phones with no electronics in the room. Do you think you would just sit there quietly for two hours? No! You would naturally start talking to the person. No matter how much of an introvert you are, if you put away everything else with no where else to go you will start talking to this person…because we were made for that! We were made for people to know us. To put down these other things and have a conversation with someone. Because until recently there we no such things as phones or tv’s or radios. The world was quiet and our minds were quiet. But our minds have been filled with noise and that means we don’t let people get to know us.

Psalm 139:23–24 “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.”

God made rest as a good thing for us

Notice it says that God “blessed” the Sabbath day. That means he made it a good thing, he made it as something that will benefit us.

There is a reason we love the weekend, why we love going on vacation, why we love summer. Because we recognize that we need a rest from school, from jobs, from the place we live in, from our responsibilities at home.

But what we often forget is we also need a rest from the things we enjoy doing. Sometimes we see rest as watching TikTok or Youtube, scrolling our phones, playing video games…whatever “leisurely” activity you like to do. But how many of you do those activities several times a week?

This means you aren’t resting from them

They aren’t resting activities

Escapism isn’t the same as resting…in fact it leads to more stress

“The sense of relaxation ends when the set is turned off, but the feelings of passivity and lowered alertness continue. Survey participants commonly reflect that television has somehow absorbed or sucked out their energy, leaving them depleted. They say they have more difficulty concentrating after viewing than before. In contrast, they rarely indicate such difficulty after reading. After playing sports or engaging in hobbies, people report improvements in mood. After watching TV, people’s moods are about the same or worse than before.”

TV’s efficacy as a form of rest is still an understudied area and there’s not enough scientific evidence to say definitively whether turning to television to relax is a good idea. It can also take time away from activity we know to be productive and healthy. In other words, it’s safe to say that the guilty voice in your head saying you’re better off hitting the yoga mat is worth listening to.

For most people, active rest like exercise, meditation or hanging out with friends is better than passive rest to regenerate the body and mind, said Edlund. “If you combine social and physical activity, you’ll feel more stimulated, alert, alive than vegging out in front of TV,” he said.

“When you wanna grow new brain cells, you walk across the street.”

(Vice Article)

We need more for rest than just “escaping” our problems. It means letting people know you, it means making something beautiful, it means enjoying the outside and breathing in good air. Above all…it means we let God enter our hearts and search us. Because the answer to anxiety and depression isn’t escaping problems...