You were made to image God. Your existence, in such a myriad of ways, shows those around you what God is like.

This is an endless topic I find myself writing about repeatedly. Today let’s consider one thing that looks like God in a human life: rest.

God is a resting God. This is one of the very first things he tells us about himself: “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” (Genesis 2:2-3). Humans imaging God in this way is so important to him that a full day of resting was one of the most basic laws he gave to his people after rescuing them from exhausting slavery (Exodus 20:8-11). A devotional I once read pointed out that God could have designed humans to be refreshed with just 30 minutes of sleep a night, but he values rest so much he made us to need hours (“Seven Types of Sabbath for Our Modern Culture” on the Bible app).

Our images of God are limited (by design) and flawed (by sin), so our rest does not look exactly like his. God does not need sleep. He rested after he created everything he intended to create, and if we wait to rest until something we want or need to do is officially and forever done, we might wait our whole lives. So one thing we learn from our rest is that we are Not God.

And he doesn’t want us to be. He wants us to trust him, the God who sustains us, with our unfinished work:
“Unless the Lord builds the house,
    the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
    the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
    and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
    for he grants sleep to those he loves” (Psalm 127:1-2).

Just to clarify: he loves everyone.

When God became flesh and dwelt among us, we see all aspects of this in his life. Jesus’ humanity needed sleep. He slept on a boat in the middle of a storm, unconsciously trusting his Father’s care of him (Mark 4: 35-41).

But as God, he also finished his work. His last words as he died were, “It is finished” (John 19:30). That Friday, he finished the salvation work he had been doing; so that Sabbath, he rested in death.

And on Sunday, he came to life again, the first fruits of a renewed creation he redeemed. While this creation groans, waiting for the rest of those fruits to come to blossom, he sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high, sustaining all things by his powerful word (Hebrews 1:3). While we also groan, the Sustaining One’s offer to care for us as we image him still stands: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Christ is risen. Take a nap.

*