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 Date Jan 16, 2010 Previous | Next By Jenny Cotton Oliver ~ Daughter of Dan Cotton The blessing of Today overwhelms me. It's my father's 79th birthday ~ Happy Birthday, Daddy! I am one of four daughters, and we are filled - often to overflowing - with love for our parents who have lived their lives for over fifty years for us. They think about us, pray for us, worry and rejoice and commune with us as often as possible. Their love grows and spreads as more are added to our family. I'm glad that our society recognizes special days such as birthdays so that we can contemplate our loved ones and honor them in concentrated ways as we mark time here in this world.
God is so awesome - Sabbath was a brilliant idea! It's sort of a weekly birthday - for Earth. If not a birthday, then a family reunion, with our loving Patriarch at the helm. The Creator splattered reminders of this precious day throughout nature. I have a "feeling" every Sabbath of joy and expectation, anticipation and peace. Like special little Sabbath ions are flinging through the air, bringing miniscule gifts to anyone who wants to notice. A friend emailed me this little list of interesting facts:
-those of the canary in 14 days;
-those of the barnyard hen in 21 days ;
-The eggs of ducks and geese hatch in 28 days;
-those of the mallard in 35 days ;
-The eggs of the parrot and the ostrich hatch in 42 days.
(Notice, they are all divisible by seven , the number of days in a week!)
Intrigued, the physician asked to see these bees. A local took him deep into the jungle, and showed him a hive made from a hollow log with mud stopping up the ends. Taking a stick, the man banged away some of the mud, and a few bees flew up and out of the hive ~ only to settle back down immediately.
"You won't find these bees ever working on el Sabado," he said. Never on Sabbath.
This physician eventually was able to find something about the bees on the internet.
Wanderers from Eden. Reminders of God's original, perfect intent. Come with Me... rest awhile. Get to know Me. Let's talk.
The passage in Patriarchs and Prophets is a beautiful description of the first Sabbaths.
The creation was now complete. "The heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." "And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Eden bloomed on earth. Adam and Eve had free access to the tree of life. No taint of sin or shadow of death marred the fair creation. "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Job 38:7.
The great Jehovah had laid the foundations of the earth; He had dressed the whole world in the garb of beauty and had filled it with things useful to man; He had created all the wonders of the land and of the sea. In six days the great work of creation had been accomplished. And God "rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." God looked with satisfaction upon the work of His hands. All was perfect, worthy of its divine Author, and He rested, not as one weary, but as well pleased with the fruits of His wisdom and goodness and the manifestations of His glory.
After resting upon the seventh day, God sanctified it, or set it apart, as a day of rest for man. Following the example of the Creator, man was to rest upon this sacred day, that as he should look upon the heavens and the earth, he might reflect upon God's great work of creation; and that as he should behold the evidences of God's wisdom and goodness, his heart might be filled with love and reverence for his Maker.
In Eden, God set up the memorial of His work of creation, in placing His blessing upon the seventh day. The Sabbath was committed to Adam, the father and representative of the whole human family. Its observance was to be an act of grateful acknowledgment, on the part of all who should dwell upon the earth, that God was their Creator and their rightful Sovereign; that they were the work of His hands and the subjects of His authority. Thus the institution was wholly commemorative, and given to all mankind. There was nothing in it shadowy or of restricted application to any people.
God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man, even in Paradise. He needed to lay aside his own interests and pursuits for one day of the seven, that he might more fully contemplate the works of God and meditate upon His power and goodness. He needed a Sabbath to remind him more vividly of God and to awaken gratitude because all that he enjoyed and possessed came from the beneficent hand of the Creator.
God designs that the Sabbath shall direct the minds of men to the contemplation of His created works. Nature speaks to their senses, declaring that there is a living God, the Creator, the Supreme Ruler of all. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge." Psalm 19:1, 2. The beauty that clothes the earth is token of God's love. We may behold it in the everlasting hills, in the lofty trees, in the opening buds and the delicate flowers. All speak to us of God. The Sabbath, ever pointing to Him who made them all, bids men open the great book of nature and trace therein the wisdom, the power, and the love of the Creator.
Wanderers from Eden. Reminders of God's original, perfect intent. Come with Me... rest awhile.
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