Genesis chapter 2

Genesis 2: 1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.   By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.  And 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)

I really struggle at times to take time off work.  Life seems so busy, there are accounts to do, tax returns, letters to writes, payrolls to run, Vat Returns to complete…...the list goes on and on and is never ending.    Then there are the weekly church notices, which usually take 3 or 4 hours to prepare, sometimes more.  All this doesn't include the time I want to spend on Photoshop, creating, designing, just messing around, the I am on the creative team for a digital shop and a designer, so need to make stuff for them.  And what about spending time with the family, taking the children out for the day?  There are tags to make, papers to create, places to see, photographs to take, where does the time go and how can I fit everything in?

Yet look at what God did in six days - he created:

1. Heavens and earth, day and night;
2. Sky;
3. Land and seas, vegetation;
4. Sun, moon, stars;
5. Fish and birds;
6. Animals, man and woman.

And on the seventh day, God rested.

On the seventh day He rested (I'm repeating that because I don't think I ever really read this and take it in!).  He didn't try and squeeze in another set of accounts, or try and tidy up the office, he didn't carry on and try to finish off that job for Mr A or Mrs B.  He didn't even just sit at His computer wondering what on earth He should do next, which of the six million things on His to do list He should tackle next as there was just so much to do and so little time to do it in. 

No, he rested.

Of course, the whole six day thing may just be figurative, it may have taken umpteen days, or weeks, or even years to do all of this, but whether it is figurative or literal, what it does mean is that God set aside a time to rest.  He might have just fooled around with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, read a book, done a jigsaw, gone out for the day, or just sat in his chair not doing anything in particular.  Whatever it was he did, he was resting, just resting.  Not thinking about his "to do" list, or what was going to happen tomorrow, or about how he should have done this, that or the other whilst creating everything.  Nope, he just rested.

And whilst there's a little voice telling me that He deserved to rest after all that work creating the heavens and earth, sun, moon and stars, seas and sky, and so on, it also tells me that I'm not working hard enough, that I waste too much time doing nothing, frittering it away on the internet, reading, doing stuff I have no need to do, that I don't deserve time off, time away from the computer, because after all, what have I done that could possibly compare with what God did?   If I just spend an hour here doing this, two hours there doing that, then I’ll soon be caught up and really take some time off then. 

It's like when my husband comes into the office at the weekend (I do all my crafting on the office as well as accounts and stuff) and says "oh, so you're not working then?" and I always feel so guilty, no matter what day of the week or what time it is.  Of course, being somewhat of a workaholic doesn't help either…..

But God gave us a day of rest for a reason and He considered it important enough to include  in the Ten commandments: 

Exodus 20:8-11 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God. Don't do any work—not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. For in six days God made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day. (The Message) 

It doesn't necessarily have to be a Sunday but we do need to take rest (and not just at night when we are sleeping).  Od tells us to take a day off, to spend time with our families, and to give Him the praise even moreso on that day.  After all,  if we spend all our time working, how can we possibly have the time to fully appreciate all that God has blessed us with?

Genesis 2:5-6 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. (NIV)

Imagine that, no rain, and no need for rain as the earth is watered by streams from the ground!  It kind of puts the whole idea of Noah building an ark and getting laughed at when he said it was going to rain if they never had any rain in those days……………

Genesis 2:21-22 God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.  The Man said,  "Finally! Bone of my bone,  flesh of my flesh! Name her Woman for she was made from Man." Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh. The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame. (The Message)

God made a companion for man. He didn't make another man, one with whom he could work with, go out drinking with, watch the football with.  No, he made woman, someone who would be a helpmeet to him, be there by his side no matter what happens, stay with him through the good times, the bad times and the ugly times.  I happen to take the view that when you marry, when God joins you together as man and wife, then no man should put that aside.  When you marry, you marry for life.  Of course, there are exceptions to this.  If you have an abusive husband, one who beats you up either physically or mentally, then you need to get away for your own safety.  Similarly, if you are married to a woman who is continually having affair after affair, denigrating you in your own home and to others, abusing you mentally, physically (and that does happen), then you too need to get away.  I don't for one minute believe God intends us to stay in a marriage if our lives are at risk.  But just because you feel trapped, because you think your spouse doesn't love you any more, because times are hard and life is tough or if there is someone else you get along better with, they "understand" you whereas your spouse doesn't, then you need to read these verses and consider just what you were doing when you got married and what God would think of your proposed action. 

It is so sad to see the divorce rate rising, to know that here in the UK in 2010, 47% of all children were born outside marriage (in the USA, the rate in 2009 was apparently 41%).  God never intended it to be this way and the way things are changing in the west is a sign of how we have chosen to reject God and His plan for our lives.  It’s heartbreaking.