Rest, and faith
July 16, 2007 | T. Suzanne Eller
Genesis 1:5
God called the light day and the darkness he called night. And there was evening and there was morning.
I was studying last week when notes from a commentary by Henry J. Graf V leaped from the page. It was about a little thing called “rest”.
We live in a culture where time off is actually viewed in a negative light. That 
doesn’t mean that we don’t know how to play; we do. When we play, we play hard.
We also know how to work. We know how to fill time with e-mail, and activities, and our to-do list, but the reality is that we aren’t really very good at resting.
Henry Graf points out that in Genesis 1:5, scripture refers to evening and then morning.
Seems backwards, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t morning come first? Graf suggests that our true day begins with rest. We sleep at night. We put aside our worries. We snuggle with our spouse. We rest our bodies and our minds.
And from that rest, springs morning.
I need rest not only physically, but spiritually. My ministry must spring from resting in my Savior, being “still and knowing that He is God”, rather than from feverish activity.
Is he looking for me to hold up my list with my neatly checked marks, or is he waiting for me to rest in his presence?
This weekend I did something I rarely do. It makes no sense because it was sandwiched between two major events, but it refreshed and restored me.
I did nothing. Yes, I ate with friends. Yes, I laughed–a lot. Yes, I took baths instead of showers. I took a nap. I read two books. I closed the door of my hotel room and listened to the heart of my Father. But I didn’t work. I didn’t worry about what I had to do this week.
And today I wrote and prepared for this weekend at Youth Encounter, but I feel prepared because rest came first.
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