What is Rest?
Written May 2022
So what is rest? Is it something that is given or something to be attained? Can we be “at rest” even when our circumstances around us are not very “restful?”
Ross and I laugh sometimes at the craziness of our lives and jokingly say “I’ll sleep when I die.”
But then I stop and think for a minute… “Do we really have to be this busy?”
I’m a mom of four kids ages five to thirteen who we homeschool during the school year… yes by choice. We also live with a boat-load of teenagers and twenty-somethings every summer at our surf camp and have for the last sixteen years. (Also, by choice).
Maybe that’s why I’m so obsessed with rest and seeking a sustainable pace for life. But in actuality, I know you are stretched too. The pressure put on kids, moms, young adults, men, women, and everyone in our modern world has increased drastically over the years as technology allows limitless opportunities and possibilities. We can know what is happening in the world at all times (hello 24-hour news cycles). And also with our neighbor, Sally (hello social media). We can feast on knowledge, information, and Sally’s latest tik tok dance TWENTY-FOUR-FREAKING-SEVEN. When is there even time to rest? There’s no time, unless we first and foremost decide it’s important, and secondly, take actual steps to prioritize and protect it. It’s not easy, and can feel very counter-cultural.
Let’s look at what the Bible says about rest. That seems like a good place to start…
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
In the second chapter of the Bible and we see that God rested and He also called it holy. The God of the Universe took some time to kick His feet up and enjoy all the work He had just done… must be important. Was He tired? Probably not. He’s God. Psalm 121:4 says
Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
I don’t think God needs to take naps, but I think we can assume there is value in rest if He rested.
Next, let’s look at Jesus.
Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
- Luke 5:15-16
After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone…
- Matthew 14:23
After Jesus’ first public miracle, turning water to wine at a wedding in Cana, he stayed a few days with his mother, brothers, and disciples. After John baptized him and everyone heard the voice from heaven announcing “This is my Son, whom I love,” he went into the wilderness for forty days. He was constantly seeking time alone with his Father, and especially after big events. Yes, Jesus was still God during his time on earth and had a very specific mission, but He still needed time alone with his Father. Jesus was also human. He felt every bodily limitation that we do and experienced every human emotion. (How amazing is that?) He still needed to get away to seek wisdom from the Father and also to rest his body. If Jesus, Son of God, needed this, why do we think we can just go from thing to thing to thing without doing the same? If Jesus made space for rest, we probably should too.
But here is the kicker…
Jesus is our example and also our source for rest. He not only shows us what it looks like, but offers us Himself.
I love The Message version of Matthew 11: 28-30
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
Rest is something we must seek, protect, and enter into. Rest is obedience. It’s also not the same as sleep. We know humans would die without sleep, but I don’t think it’s as obvious that something might be dying spiritually, deep within us, without this kind of rest that comes from above. When we make space for it… creating margin in our days, our weeks, and our years… we are offering up our time as a sacrifice before our Heavenly Father. We are are saying two things to Him. 1) “I can’t do it on my own. Help me.” and 2) “Fill me up with Yourself.”
There is an emptying and a filling that takes place. There is an exchange: a laying down of worries, weariness, fear, and anxiety for peace, joy, and the fruit of the Spirit that come only from Him.
There is a reason God called the Israelites to regard the Sabbath. It was a weekly reminder of their humanity and that they needed their God. It was often costly.
Hebrews 4:1-11 talks all about this promise of rest and also describes it as something we must enter into…
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. (verses 9-11)
Rest is trust. With all the distractions of our lives and the temptation to constantly be producing, we must make physical space and time to offer ourselves to God… to receive from Him and be reminded of who He is and who we are. He is God, the Maker of heaven and earth, and we are limited humans. But it’s more than just that physical space and time, it’s a posture. Prioritizing rest renews and reminds so that we can come back to our lives with a posture of trust in our God who holds the whole world in His hand. Without this reminder… this space, we are tempted to keep climbing the ladders, pushing ourselves to our limits, and living under the delusion that we are in control. There is an unlocking of peace and joy to be found in these daily, weekly, and yearly reminders that God is on the throne and we actually don’t want to be.
Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. -Psalm 62
May we learn how to live from a posture of rest, may we fight for it, enter into it, and receive it. I am still learning what this means in each season of life, but I know there is much more in store for me and for you.