By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (NIV)

Don’t you love how God works? Sometimes, it feels a bit pointed: We launch into this series on rest and reliance during one of the busiest seasons I’ve had in a while. As my team prepares for the women’s retreat and I prepare to have a baby this winter, sitting down at my computer to write about rest feels a bit too on-the-nose. Maybe you feel this in your fall season, as well. New commitments starting up, kids in sports, rhythms resuming…it can sweep us away if we’re not careful.

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And then, I read today’s passage, in which God first models rest to his creation. We know he didn’t need it, but he chose it. That feels foreign - I could always use a bit of rest! But it was the first line of this verse that irked me a bit today: “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing…” so he rested. To give some context, I’m tapping this devo out on my phone as I sit waiting at the JBER pharmacy because my computer and the productivity it promises are stowed far out of reach in my car. Reading this verse while “wasting time” in a waiting room, today’s to-do list a mile long, I could’ve laughed out loud. That’s nice that you rested after your work was finished, God. Yet you expect me to choose rest when my work is far, far from done?

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I stared at the screen for a while during my bountiful wait, asking God to right my heart. Where was the encouragement here? When so often we must choose rest before the work is finished, how was this verse anything but a reminder of my mortality?

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As I pondered this question, watching patron after patron disappear from the waiting room around me, I reflected on the delightfully ironic fact that in this moment, I was being forced to rest before my own Monday to-do list of work had really even begun. What was God showing me in this forced frustration?

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I am God; you are not, he whispered.

And I realized, why would I assume that God finishing his work meant that I should be able to, as well? He is Creator; I…am just not. And I wonder if my unfinished work is to purposefully remind me of that. Is this verse a reminder of my mortality? Yes, yes I think it is. And that’s a good thing. Because when I properly place the work God has assigned me in the correct place in this world order, I am reminded of my reliance on him alone, not myself.

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Here is where we must begin this series about the unforced rhythms of grace that Jesus invites us into. May we allow God to strip us of our pride in productivity, of the belief we are essential, of our failure to acknowledge our deep need of him - not just to knock us down a peg, but to draw us down from the pathetic pedestals of our own frenetic fashioning and into the lap of our Father God, THE Creator of it all.

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You were not made for the hustle, friend. Interestingly, most ancient pagan religions preached as much - that the gods created man to labor FOR them. How is the enemy still using the same lie with us today?!

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Rather, you were created for presence. For work, yes, but also for rest and delight. For reliance on your Creator, not yourself. I pray you find that headspace with the Lord today too, hopefully without the agonizing waiting room it took to remind me.

God, I submit to you today, to your agenda, to the waiting rooms of life that remind me who’s on the throne. We trust you with our day, Lord. Amen.