Scripture Reflections

On Sunday, we heard Genesis 1. One thing that seems odd is the frequent refrain, “there was evening and there was morning, the _th day.” We think of days as beginning when we wake up, but Genesis presents each day as beginning when the sun goes down. There is something to learn from this, something more important than we realize: When you wake up each morning to begin your day, God’s work for the day has already begun.
 
According to Genesis, we sit down to dinner, read a book, and go to sleep as the day is beginning. We begin each day with rest—what a strange, countercultural thought!
 
And even stranger, when we examine creation, we realize that God’s work for each day begins while we are resting. When we wake, God is already at work. We discover that the dawn is breaking, birds are chirping, and plants are filling our air with oxygen. While we were sleeping, he was at work on all of us, restoring our bodies and strengthening us for the day ahead. So much happens while we sleep! Without our help, the sun rises, rains fall, and crops grow. While we are oblivious, unable to help in any way, snoring away in our beds, so much is happening! We awake and step into the work to which God has called us, but it is work that he has begun without us. We don’t begin any task; instead, we step into something he has already begun.
 
Psalm 127 both convicts me and encourages me. Verse 4 reads “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” The theme of the psalm is simple: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (v. 1). The psalm could be seen as a meditation on Genesis 1. God works first, while we rest, and then invites us into his work. Our work does not need to be anxious, because God is already working.
 
What if we began to see each thing to which God calls us as something that he has already begun for us, without our help? What if we believed that he is already present in all situations in our life, before we even get to them? What if we realized that he calls us to rest in him before we go to work for him?
 
The biblical depiction of work assumes that God is working first. We are like a little kid, invited by a parent to help in a task that is far too big for us! But because God is already there, we can jump in with joy, excited to be with him, eager to help.
 
Steven+