Resting
Life is busy. I wonder if there was ever a time that life was not busy. Perhaps we don’t spend as much of it on survival, but it doesn’t take long for various things to fill our time.
I recently listened to a podcast on the creation story. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Gen. 1:1. He created each day and declared that what he created was good … and there was evening and morning the first day … the second day … the third day … the fourth day … the fifth day … the sixth day. I don’t think of my day starting in the evening; rather, I think of it being completed. I get to rest and recharge for another day. Maybe, if the laundry is folded, I can sit with a cup of tea and read a book in the evening before going to bed. When God created the heavens and the earth there was evening and morning each day.
The podcast pointed out that the Israelites coming out of Egypt would have been the first to hear Moses’ account of creation. In Egypt, in their slavery, their value was determined by how much they could produce. What did this mean for the old, the sick, the weak, the young? What could they produce? What value did they add to the economic engine that was Egypt?
There was evening and morning each day of creation. Each day started by resting. Each day God looked at what he had created and declared it good. In God’s economy, our value does not come from what we can produce, have produced or will produce. It doesn’t come from what we have, who we know, what we look like or anything other than that He created us and declared that what he created was good; and that he loved what he created so much that Christ died to redeem it. I like to think of it as God starts each day by resting because he loves us and wants to hang out with us. This doesn’t mean my life is less busy; but it does encourage me that, in the rhythm of life, I and everyone around me has value because God gave it to us. I can rest in that