Devotion:
For an audio version of this devotion, click here.
Read Genesis 1:31 - 2:3.
This ends the first story of Creation, and it is told as poetry. We think of poetry as writing with rhyming last words in sentences or verses. Hebrew poetry was marked by repetition of important words or phrases, establishing a pattern or rhythm. For example, each “day” of God’s creating work begins with “And God said, Let…” God thus speaks light, sky and land, plants, heavenly bodies, animals, and finally human beings into being. Each day ends with God’s repeated observation that it is good. When it was all done, God expressed that it was “very good.” There is a lesson here for us that God’s creation must remain intact, in harmony, and cared for by us.
When I was a child and I would hear the verses of God resting on the seventh day, I would have this mental picture of a tired being, sitting with hat off, enjoying the breeze, and recovering. God does not grow tired and weary! But God’s resting on the seventh day made it a Sabbath, a holy day for us to rest and worship…a wonderful gift that we should never, ever let slip away in our busy lives.
Personal Worship Option:
Thank you, Almighty God, for the lessons you teach us, even in the story of Creation. Thank you for providing all that we need to sustain our lives. And thank you for the gift of the Sabbath. Help us to keep it holy, separate from other days, and a time for being refreshed in you. Amen.
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