Creation
The story of creation often gets overlooked...at least it did for me.
I never cared much about the beginning (Genesis). I was only ever interested in the end game (Revelation said what?).
Maybe you can relate with me there.
“Skip the beginning and the steps it took in the middle...show me what happens in the end.”
Maybe you’re the type of reader that likes to read the last page of a novel before you actually start, that way you know if it’s worth reading the book in its entirety. Or maybe you love finding spoiler alerts for shows/movies before you take time to watch them.
Spoiler alert: the ending isn’t the best part- there is so much beauty of how it started, and the journey it took to get there.
The desire for humankind was so great,Jesus got down in the ground and got His hands dirty to make man.
When we open up to the first book of the Bible, we can so easily gloss over the beginning stages of creation in Scripture:
Day 1: God spoke light into the formless and empty void.
Day 2: Atmosphere and firmament; the morning and evening. Bringing order into the start of creation.
Day 3: Dry land formed, the gathered water was called “seas”, and plants were created.
Day 4: The sun, moon, and stars formed. Not just to illuminate light, but created to mark passage of time from the vantage point of Earth.
Day 5: The birds and sea animals followed, also being spoken into existence. The very power of His voice alone brought beauty and order.
Day 6: The land animals were created from His very word.
But then something radical happened on day six-
Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, “LET US make mankind in OUR image, in OUR likeness…”Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
The Triunity (Elohim, Fullness of Deity, God the Father-Son-Holy Spirit) declared to make a being in their own image.
The want for humankind was so great, that Jesus got down in the ground and got His hands dirty to make man. He could have spoken of our being into existence like the rest of creation...but He didn’t.
No.
Intimacy became a factor in this creation. Love was shown by the how of this being.
Jesus knelt down, gathered the dust from the ground, and like a potter molding clay He formed man. Not only did He get His hands dirty, He took it one step further and breathed His own breath into the man to give him life. It wasn’t enough to just be spoken into existence, man was created with intentionality and intimacy.
I’ll say it again.
The Creator lowered Himself, got His hands dirty, and created mankind.
You were created intentionally and for a purpose.
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” -Psalm 139:14-16
The ending to our story isn’t just the best part. It’s the why in our beginning, and our journey throughout life in knowing our Creator that makes the story complete. We are the grand finale in His stages of creation.
Once man was created on the sixth day, He blessed all His creation and called it “good”.
Then we see something different:
Day 7: He rested.
The Hebrew word used in Genesis 2:3 for rest is “menuchah”. It’s not that God slept after all the work He had done…it’s that He simply stopped what He was doing.
He looked over all that He had created, blessed it and declared it as “good”, and stopped all work. That seventh day became a day of peace and rest. Stopping of the hustle and burden we see in the other six days of the week.
You too need a day of rest, friend.
When you go through your week, trying your best to do what you can with what you have, there needs to be one day where you simply. stop.
I’m not saying it has to be a Sunday. In fact, there’s no statement in scripture that this seventh day was a Sunday.
The point is, make one day a week to make your menuchah day. Stop the hustle. Find peace and restore yourself. If you want to show up refreshed and ready to make good work, you need a day to pause and replenish.
Sit down with your family and carve out one day a week that is your family rest day. Make it a point to stop, together, as a family. Spend intentional time together...and rest.
Fully supporting you in a rest day,