Months later here we are chapter two of Genesis.
I imagine that once we are out of Eden the narrative analysis will go a lot more smoothly and quickly, but there is so much packed here in these very few pages; so many gems that we overlook to get to the “good stuff”.
I ended last time with the child-like question of, “Why does God need to rest?” Naturally, the absolute fact is that He doesn’t.
What He is doing here is setting a standard for us to follow. He establishes the Sabbath day as holy, as set apart, as different from all the rest with His own action. There is something so important, so foundational of a principle in taking a Sabbath rest that the God of the universe, who doesn’t need one at all, takes a moment so that we will do as He does. He plants it in the Garden after He forms mankind.
Notice that the Sabbath is established long before it is enshrined in Mosaic Law. The day is special, the concept created and affirmed as right and very good, set apart from all others at the foundation of all creation. We need the Sabbath. It is a part of that abundant life, that overflowing of goodness that God wants for us. God “barak”ed the day just like He “barak”ed the animals and man with the command to be fruitful and multiple. It is far from just another day. It is a blessed day. It is also a blessing given to us.
Jesus tells us that the Sabbath was created for man, not the man for the Sabbath. It is a gift from our creator in the form of a command. We all can recognize the blessedness of being fruitful and multiplying. Every married couple finds joy in that beyond even the physical act. A child’s smile, giggle, snuggle, wonder at the world around them is a full measured to over-flowing blessing. So should be the Sabbath.
I’ve studied how to Sabbath off and on for years and while I am not an “expert”, and find it difficult to achieve even my Sabbath ideal, there are some core notions across all levels.
Firstly, the Sabbath is rest from work. It is far too easy for us humans, now as in ages past, to take a rest. I know many people who would much prefer to burn out completely before they take a rest. We prize industry. We have sayings and ancient wisdom against idleness. We often crave to work overtime because, “that’s where the real money is”. We want to prove to our bosses that we are worth keeping around and worth giving a raise to. And how do we do that? First one there, last one to leave, always on call, and always say “yes” to working on weekends when others call in.
What we are saying without realizing it is that our work “defines us”. When two men meet for the first time, what is the most common question? “So, what do you do?” It’s not, “What is important to you?”. It’s not, “What is your favorite thing about being alive?” It is always work related. We are sorely tempted to wrap our identity, and thereby our value, around what we do; what we accomplish. This leads to further wrapping our identity around how successful we are at it, because how else can we gauge how well we work if it isn’t through money? And then the temptation becomes to attach our sense of identity to idols or totems, our stuff, that tells people who we are and how much we are “worth”.
God, from the day after He breathed into the lungs of Adam, says, “No”. You will rest. You will stop. You will pause. You will recuperate. You will take time to be still and know that I am God because otherwise you will run after all the things you shouldn’t. You will remember what is actually important.
Secondly, Sabbath is a challenge as well as a blessing. It’s a beautiful challenge to stop and consider where your values, identity, purpose, etc. resides. For many it’s a difficult challenge to stop and “do nothing”. We are called to trust that this Sabbath rest has value and purpose in a world where only more doing makes sense. But the dishes…but the kid’s bathroom…but the yard… It does take determination and commitment to just sit there in rest. Which naturally begs the question, “What do you do, because just sitting on the couch can’t be what this is about?” And you’d be right.
My “ideal” for Sabbath is centered around re-creating life in Eden as much as we can on this side. No, that doesn’t mean constant nude gardening. If you’re a married couple without kids that might be an option for you. But for the rest of us, the habit I profess consists of five parts.
Most importantly we try to make dedicated space for communion with God. Later in the Genesis narrative we will see that God came to walk in the garden in the cool of the day. He walked and talked with Adam and Eve here on Earth. They could see His face, hear His voice, and respond all without blowing up or melting before His Presence. The shorter Westminster catechism declares that the “chief end of man” is to glorify (to make much of) God and enjoy Him forever. This was the chief end from the beginning and remains our chief end. He is a God who wants to know us and be known by us. We make this a part of our Sabbath by attending church with our fellow believers and engaging in relational hospitality.
Secondly, we spend time out in nature which Adam and Eve clearly would have. It is amazing to me when my children go hiking, or even just spend a few minutes in the woods not far from our back door, how much wonder and joy all of creation brings to them. Even my cynical fourteen-year-old gasps and says things like, “That is so cool” over a leave, bloom, or vine. Nature preaches to them about the God of all creation in a different way than the Sunday sermon. We all live, quite literally, in an enchanted world. Every forest, lake, river field, valley, holler, mountain, or sand dune is a miracle. Everything is infused with life and stands beyond scientific knowledge and understanding. Everything was planned and designed by the Divine One, touched by His finger. We minimize this to our detriment.
Thirdly, we eat and drink delicious and decadent things. The Sabbath is a day for our favorites, all of the wonderful sweet, cheesy, makes your mouth water things. It is and should be a joy to celebrate the Sabbath. “Sabbath calories don’t count,” is one of my favorite sayings I’ve heard in my explorations into this topic. Now, some health focused people may cringe at this, but I encourage you to remember that God loves us and wants us to experience joy. The Sabbath is not a command to drudgery and suffering and abject self-denial. It is a feast of the Lord’s day. Rabbis in ancient times would bring out a pot of honey when teaching young boys in the Torah. They would dip their finger in the pot and place a dab on the child’s tongue so that they would always associate sweetness and goodness with the Torah and with God Himself. So, to remember the goodness of God, we feast.
Fourthly, we rest. There have been many, many times where my wife and I will look at each other on the Sabbath and say, “Man…I could fall asleep right here and take a nap.” The Sabbath is when we smile at each other and say, “Then do it. It’s Sabbath privilege.” We feel guilty. We often make some kind of an excuse, as if we need one, to just rest. Why? If you’re sleepy it’s because your body needs it. Sabbath naps are the best.
And finally, we take time for marital intimacy. If you think Adam and Eve weren’t getting it on in the garden then you’re deluding yourself. They enjoyed each other in beautiful innocent intimacy that we can only dream of. God wanted them to, or else why would He have blessed them with the command to “be fruitful and multiply”? God is, in my humble opinion, a big proponent of married couples having sex, joyous sex, celebratory sex. And what goes by the wayside the busier we get? This divine directive. It has taken me two decades of marriage to begin to see just how amazing this intimacy between husband and wife can be. It is wholly vital. As with anything of God and from God, the benefits are multi-layered and infinitely affecting.
Hopefully I’ve done a decent job of showing how wonderful the Sabbath can be and how we should not just shrug off this blessing. I may make it seem easy, but it’s often a struggle and a fight to prioritize the things of the Lord. I try and I fail and I rationalize. But when we get it right the blessing comes right along so very swiftly. It’s a beautiful thing.
When talking to others about this topic a common question gets asked. “But, you’re not saying that you have to do this to be saved, right?” Of course not. But you have to Sabbath in order to get the blessing of the Sabbath. Who wants minimal blessings from God? Just enough to get by and slide into heaven by the skin of our teeth?
The question I have come to realize that I need to ask in response is, “Well, how seriously do you think God takes the Sabbath?” We know from the scriptures that at minimum He thought seriously enough of it to exile all of Israel for seventy years. Another 400+ years of silence, of absence of the presence of God from the temple, followed after that. So clearly, we don’t have to in order to be saved…but why would we not take it as seriously as He does? Why would we ever say to the Lord, “Yeah, I know. You could be blessing me more. But it’s not necessary so I’ll skip it. Thanks but no thanks, Big G. I’d rather have less.”?
Finding Narnia 
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