“So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.” — Genesis 2:1–3
It’s so easy to read these verses and think “yeah, yeah, yeah” and keep scrolling. Some of us have probably heard the “God rested” story since Sunday school. We acknowledge the words without letting the weight of them hit us. But to really get what’s happening here, you have to start with how big God is. I know it’s difficult to wrap our heads around the fact that everything we touch and see started as nothing. Formless. Void. But then God..
“Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone…”. Job 38:4-7
“My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens…”. Isaiah 48:13 ESV
“He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved”. Psalm 104:5 ESV
“For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths”. Psalm 24:2 NLT
Which leads to a question that doesn’t really make sense at first glance: Did the “Alpha and the Omega” actually need a nap?
Was he worn out from measuring, laying foundations and spreading out the heavens?
If you’re a college football fan, you can hear Lee Corso saying, “Not so fast, my friend!”
The answer is found in Isaiah 40, which tells us that the Lord never grows weak or weary. So, if God doesn’t get tired, that means the “rest” wasn’t for Him. Jesus himself supports this in Mark 2 when he says,
“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
God was modeling a rhythm into the very fabric of the world—a guardrail against the kind of life John Ortberg warns us about—where we don’t necessarily lose our faith, but we get so distracted and “busy” that we settle for a mediocre, skimmed version of life instead of actually living it.
Pardon my bluntness, but most of us carry busyness like some kind of trophy. We complain about our calendars while secretly competing to see who has the most “on their plate.” I did some market research to prove this. After someone told me how busy they were, they commented with, “I’m sure you’re really busy too.” I said, “Not really; life is pretty good.”
You should have seen their face! They were visibly concerned and reassured me that things will pick up. Has busyness become a badge of honor?! Let’s call it what it can so easily become: a crutch. We limp around letting the loudest voice dictate our lives instead of the Spirit within us. We get so obsessed with what’s “urgent” that we completely ignore what’s actually important.
It reminds me of how Google Maps works. The more you zoom in, the less you actually see. When you’re zoomed all the way into your “to-do” list, you lose perspective. You see every tiny detail, but you have zero visibility of the greater reality. The tasks in front of us matter, sure, but zooming out is what keeps us living in the larger story. Lately, I’ve been leaning on Hebrews 12:2 as a way to “zoom out”—fixing my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
When you zoom out and look at the big picture, He’s the constant. He’s the voice that spoke the world into being, the voice that calmed the storm, the one that cried “It is finished” on the cross, and the one who will eventually say, “Well done, thy good and faithful servant.” My prayer for all of us is that when you zoom back in, Jesus remains the constant. He’s with us in the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. He cares about the details of your life but never at the cost of the health and well-being of your heart and soul. In these verses, God establishes the healthy rhythms of life: creating, completing, and resting.