God Didn’t Need to Rest

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God didn’t need to rest. He chose to rest. 

He wanted to set a great example for all of us. 

But, as is typical, most of us don’t follow his example very well.

We were created to sleep.

Did you know there is a National Sleep Foundation? 

There is an interesting article that you might want to read about American sleep habits. I won’t quote statistics, but most Americans don’t get enough sleep, and that is affecting almost everything else in their lives.

 Another article provided the National Sleep Foundation’s new set of guidelines. Adults have been given a “range” for recommended hours of sleep per night. According to their comprehensive research, we need anywhere from seven to nine hours of sleep each night. If you are over sixty-five, that range is seven to eight.

Are you getting enough sleep? I do.

I’m one of those who’s blessed with the ability to sleep, most of the time. My mom has told me that I was the only kid in Kindergarten who had to be woken up after “rest time.” I still like an afternoon nap! 

I go to bed early and get up early. I write most of my blogs around 5:30 a.m. I’ve discovered a unique link between coffee and the voice of God in my life! The Holy Spirit has a strange propensity to use my caffeinated brain for creative purposes. 

I love to sleep because I love its benefits.

Why did God create us with a need for sleep?

I embrace the chance to sleep each night. 

One of my favorite moments is when I am done with the day and crawl into bed. One of my other favorite moments is when I realize it’s morning and I get to brew that first cup of coffee! 

If God made us to sleep, he must have had a great reason. Consider these possibilities: 

  • If we are sleeping, we aren’t sinning. Imagine how many sins we have escaped just because we were sound asleep!
  • If we aren’t sleeping, we aren’t dreaming. I wonder how many “un-remembered” dreams have been lessons from God. What if the Lord is speaking to us as we sleep? We know that a lot of dreams are recorded in Scripture and were used by God to teach or lead.
  • God wanted rest to be one of his blessings. Don’t you feel grateful when you wake up from a good night’s sleep? The next time, consider that feeling to be his blessing.

God rested from his work.

God didn’t sleep, but he did rest. He stopped working. Every summer, I try to follow that example for a couple of weeks! 

I have a stack of books I’m looking forward to reading. I will also spend some of my time just enjoying God’s creation. Rest should be for our bodies, minds, and, especially, our souls. 

I’m looking forward to not blogging, not studying, and, hopefully, not “thinking” about work for a couple of weeks. I’m going to rest instead.

I’m grateful for all of you.

Before I “quit” for a couple of weeks, I wanted to tell you that I’m grateful for each of you, my readers. I consider it a privilege to write each week. I love God’s word, and I love the chance to share it with all of you. 

So, I leave by sharing a passage I think all of us should consider for these weeks of “rest” from a blog post. Psalm 127 is attributed to Solomon and is called a “Psalm of Ascent.” It is part of a collection of Psalms used by the Jewish people as they made their annual religious pilgrimages to Jerusalem.

Passover, Pentecost, the Festival of Lights, and other holidays required a great deal of commitment and effort for most of the Jewish nation. They left their homes and their work, then walked great distances in order to ascend Mt. Zion and worship at the temple.

Solomon wrote these words to encourage people to make that effort to “rest” from their daily work and worship their God. He said: 

Unless the Lord builds the house,
    those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
    the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
    and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
    for he gives to his beloved sleep.
—Psalm 127:1–2

Rest is not time wasted.

Our culture measures our success differently than God does. 

King Solomon was probably the hardest “working” person in Scripture. But he was also one of the wisest men. He wrote that Psalm for our spiritual benefit. None of us want to live our lives “in vain.”

So, get some rest. Get your sleep. Receive those things as you would receive any other blessing. 

God created us with the need for rest and meets that need so we can know we are blessed.

Have a happy couple of weeks—I plan to! 

Blessings . . .  

Janet


Posted by Janet Denison

Janet Denison teaches others to live an authentic faith through her writing, speaking, and teaching ministry. She blogs weekly at JanetDenison.org and often at ChristianParenting.org. She is also the author of The Songs Tell the Story and Content to Be Good, Called to Be Godly, among other books. Janet and her husband, Dr. Jim Denison, live in Dallas, Texas. When they’re not writing or ministering to others, they enjoy spending time with their grown children and their four still-growing grandchildren.