Rest in Him

Genesis 2,2-3                                                                    

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Matthew 11:28

Recommended Reading: Genesis 2:2-3 “1 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

COMMENTS:  Genesis gives us instruction by example.  Work is essential for our well being but so is rest.  Genesis reveals the order and way God created the universe and everything in it, but greatest detail on order of the earth’s creation and everything in and on it.  God initially created out of nothing but then built on His creation from work already done.   He created a home for life before creating life.  He created everything needed to sustain life before He created life.  That meant creating gravity and air and   water and food and light before creating life.  That meant creating life that would be a source of food for more advanced life, including humans.  The logic and order of creation is evident in Genesis.

We may think creation was easy for God because He simply spoke everything into existence.   In our jobs, we may feel the same way about our boss because he tells us what to do without needing to do the work himself.  But God had to design and think through the order and method of creation.  Stop and think.  He started with nothing.  Consider what He then finished with.  Imagine how much better and more perfect His creation was before satan corrupted His creation with temptation and sin. 

But the restraints and limits God puts on satan does limit the destruction satan can do to His creation.  Otherwise, the world and everything on it would have been ruined and destroyed long ago.  Satan does not create but only destroys.  That is all he knows how to do and all he wants to do.

Well, all the work God did was wonderfully good.  At the end of each work day God took time to look at His work and judge how good it was.   He took time to both evaluate and enjoy what He accomplished.  He took time to enjoy what He created. 

Then, when His work was completed, He took an entire day to rest and enjoys His completed work.  His work was completed.  But then again, the t asks of maintaining His creation   had just begun.

What does the creation story teach us?  It should prove to us that a good design requires a skillful engineer, a skillful planner, and a skillful craftsman and builder.   Those who would teach evolution or creation without a creator is like teaching a car or house or a city could be built without intelligent skilled   engineers and craftsman.  Such is not logical nor realistic or truthful.    Scripture’s account of creation intends to prove to us God is real and is solely responsible for the planning and creation of us and the world we live in.    Scripture also tells us God is responsible and able and willing to sustain His creation.

God also shows us the proper way of doing productive work – work with a goal – work with a plan and logical sequence of steps – work with realistic expectation of progress each day – work that includes enjoying the process and enjoying the fruit of our labor.   Then to take time to rest from labor and enjoy completed work. 

God gave us the 10 Commandments to   give us a standard and guide of conduct, which included a command to take a day of rest, as He did.   Rest is not optional but a requirement.  God created us to need rest even before sin corrupted us and caused fatigue and age and weakness to all hinder and limit our ability to work. 

The interstate highway system used in the United States was first designed in Germany during late 1930’s, but was first introduced and began in USA in 1956.  Design was to simplify and enhance access to travel over long distances without delays and at greater safe speeds, enabling travelers to cover much greater travel distances each day.  At first businesses were not given access to travelers except at defined exit locations.   It wasn’t long before the necessity for more frequent rest stops                were added because of how weary and more prone to accidents travelers were becoming.   Bathroom breaks and distractions were (and still are) vital to avoid fatigue and dangers fatigue causes. 

If you ever traveled on an interstate highway, you know how important those rest stops are.  As I get older, I find a need for more frequent “rest stops”.  How about you?

Work has always brought a temptation to set unrealistic goals or an unrealistic time schedule to complete tasks.  Shortcutting rest is an easy solution but makes workers more vulnerable to make mistakes and becoming less efficient.  If allowed to continue, the result is work that must be redone and workers unable to do the repairs.   Bosses need to learn to properly treat and respect workers by providing necessary tools and rest and environment and training so work will be done in most efficient manner.

My working career was as an engineer.  My tasks including designing machinery for the underground mining industry and later to supervise other designers and drafters to create and draw plans so manufacturing employees could build that machinery.

But work and responsibility didn’t end there.  Instructing servicemen and end user on how to properly operate, properly maintain and repair that machinery was also necessary so customers would realize their work goals as well.   The entire process also provided opportunity to build working relationships with others built on trust and respect and sharing knowledge and experience.

Over time, I was able to develop some great friendships and given opportunities to share Christ and be encouraged and blessed by others as well as be a blessing to them.    Work became more than just earning a paycheck and satisfying employer requirements and expectations. Work became a field of ministry, which actually enhanced work efficiency.

Balance was important and respect for others, including those that did not share my Christian faith and world view, was a learning process.  The Holy Spirit revealed to me how and what battles to fight and what battles were not mine to fight. 

Yet, the Holy Spirit also provide insights into engineering ideas as well as relationship opportunities that was such a source of blessing and help along the journey too.   Rest and reflection gave needed rejuvenation too.   Even though retired, it still does.   Taking time to reflect and share in this journal during this morning’s devotion time brings joy and peace to my soul as I reflect on the working journey I have experienced and enjoyed.   Well, even as I recall the difficult challenges and problems also experienced during the jourey, I am still encouraged because of the help others and especially the help the Holy Spirit provided.  

I am, therefore, even more convinced God is the Greatest Inventor, the Greatest Designer, the Greatest craftsman, the Greatest Planner and Scheduler, the Greatest Supervisor, the Greatest Builder, the Greatest Friend and Co-Worker, ….  The list goes on and on. 

I learned early to see Christ is my employer instead of the boss or company I worked for.  The result was a greater motivation and desire to complete assigned work with greater passion and standards, but also to put forth greater effort to understand expectations of end user of my work.  That helps me over come disappointment and discouragement along the way too.   This approached also help when I felt overlooks for promotions or  raises.  Those promotions and salary raises did come and have no complaints, even though now and again it seems others progressed ahead of me.  But I now realize such feelings were selfish and God’s timing  was better than my expectations.

Have you accepted Jesus’ invitation to enjoy eternal rest in Him? His spiritual rest is never-ending and always available.        

“Our rest lies in looking to the Lord, not to ourselves.”  Watchman Nee

If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 364 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.

You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily.  My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to   explore and use my devotional blog materials.

My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.

Published by donsdevotions

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Don McDaniel - Who am I? Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever. Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me. I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private. However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool. Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry. He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 . I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine. I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward. Don & Arlene McDaniel In His Service, Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951 If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ ) You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.

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