The Sabbath: God’s Gift of Rest

What if life didn’t have to be so rushed? Do you find yourself longing for a break or even wishing you could find a place to hide?

For the average family, days are made up of long to do lists, even longer work hours, and so many activities it can be difficult to find time to breathe, much less rest.

And yet, it’s rest we so very much need.

Society would have us believe the more we produce and the more we consume the happier our lives will be.

You feel it, don’t you? That need to strive for more, whatever more may be?

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” Mark 8:36 ESV

What if there was a better way to live? What if the answer to your soul’s weariness was to simply stop?

Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27 ESV

Did you know God gave us the Sabbath as a gift?  He wants you to find rest!

Where did the Sabbath come from?

That’s a great question! The short answer is the seventh day of the creation week was blessed and made holy by God.

Let’s go all the way back to the beginning of time when God first created this world and find out more.

In the book of Genesis, in chapter one, we are told that in six days God made the heavens and the earth.

• Day One: God made light.
• Day Two: God made the firmament and the atmosphere.
• Day Three: God made the dry ground and plants.
• Day Four: God made the sun, moon, and stars.
• Day Five: God made the birds and sea animals.
• Day Six: God made the land animals and humans.

God spent six days making this world. He lovingly thought of every detail. He took care to provide us with everything we would need. He didn’t overlook a single detail.

And Then Look What Happened On The Seventh Day:

Genesis 2:2,3 ESV says, “And on the seventh day God finished His work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all His work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it Holy, because on it God rested from all His work that he had done in creation.”

You see, God blessed the seventh day that very first week of creation. The gift of the Sabbath was given to man in the very beginning.

God rested on the seventh day as an example for us. The Sabbath was not created for God’s benefit. In fact, God doesn’t grow weary from working the way we do. Let’s look at the original Hebrew word for in Genesis 2:2 for rest: “Shabbat” or Sabbath. “Shabbat” means to cease or stop. God stopped His work of creation and rested.