UNPACKING

This is not my own analogy. I came across it this past week as I was looking into those first few verses of Genesis 2 where God is pictured as "resting" after 6 intense days of creation. I want to share it because I find it helpful and maybe you will as well.

I used to wonder what the Bible was trying to communicate about God here - was He exhausted after all those creative acts? 

That didn't make much sense if God is all powerful. No output of energy on God's part is going to make Him tired. If it did, that would demonstrate a limit to His power.

So the unpacking analogy clarifies God's experience of "rest". It pictures a move into a new house.

All of your boxes are piled in various rooms and you get to work unpacking. You put the pots and pans in the kitchen cabinets. You put the toiletries and towels in the bathroom. Your clothes go into the bedroom closet.

At the end of the process, everything is in its place and ready to function for daily life.

Now there are two ways to rest once everything is organized.

Either you plop down into the recliner exhausted from the effort. You must rest because you are spent.

Or you sit down in the recliner in order to enjoy your newly designed and organized surroundings. You can rest because everything is ready to function as intended. 

God's rest is the second kind.

But He doesn't rest in a recliner - He opts for a throne.