Traditionally Saturday has been seen by Jews as 'the Sabbath', a sign of God's deliverance from Egypt and the new rest that they would know because of his own work. Why do we not work, and why do we not put work into the lives of the people around us who take care of us? Because in thinking of what God has done, we see something of what we ought to be.
The principle of 'God has done ___, thus we do ____ is a principle that is underrated when it comes to Scripture. Why do we take care of the poorest and the most vulnerable? This is what God does. Why do we rebuke evil and seek to bring about righteousness? This is what God does. Why do we need rest? Even God rested on the Sabbath.
Maybe the reason we don't carry out this command well is that simply we have a hard time thinking about an all-powerful being needing to rest. I can understand, at least in theory, that I need to rest. But God? Isn't he always working? Isn't he always active? Does he really need rest?
To rest is a sacrifice, I think. In resting even God looked at opportunity and said no. There are many opportunities to stay busy today, but for some of them I must say NO.
And so, today is a day of rest for me. Thank you, Lord.
