[This is part 2 of a message I gave at the Creekside Women’s Retreat. Here’s part 1. Please also read my disclaimer in part 1!]
God didn’t intend for us to be “busy” in the way that most of us are busy - which is really just a socially acceptable word for “over-committed”. (You might even call it a four-letter-word?) :)
God instituted for us a day of rest, called “sabbath”. Established at creation, God set the example for us. He did His work in six days, and rested on day seven.
Why did God rest? Does He get tired? No. Does He get weary? No. Does He get burned out? No.
Genesis 2:1-2 tells us:
“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”
God rested because He was finished. And if you look back through the account of creation, you’ll notice that every time He created something, He said “That’s good!” And after He finished His work of creation, He said “That’s very good!”
God found utter satisfaction in the work He had accomplished.
Work isn’t what makes us weary. There was work in the garden of Eden: plants to tend, animals to name. No, work isn’t what makes us weary. So if work isn’t what makes us weary, what does?
Let me identify it as what I’ve heard called “inner machinery”. This inner machinery is a need to prove ourselves; it’s the emotional and psychological work we do inside of telling ourselves that we must measure up, we must prove to ourselves that we matter, that we’re not just wasted space. That inner machinery is like a car going 60 miles an hour. It doesn’t stop immediately, and it takes practice to make it stop effectively. And that machinery, that keeps on running, is what makes us weary.
More tomorrow...
No comments:
Post a Comment