There are countless studies out there that indicate that rest provides several physical benefits. Not only does proper rest help us to be more productive when we need to be, but scientists also say that getting adequate rest can help with weight loss, can prevent illnesses and can greatly reduce the risk of heart disease. However, the need for rest isn’t a new idea. In fact, long before scientists were publishing the physical benefits of rest, God was commanding His people to take one day every week to rest from their work and recover their strength.
The Bible says that after six days of creation, God rested (Genesis 2:2). Perhaps that’s why He made sure to incorporate a commandment that covered the need for rest.
Exodus 20:8-10 (ESV)
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not to any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
God is obviously passionate about His people taking the time to rest. Finding rest when you’re weary is one of the most beautiful things that any of us can experience. Not only do we all have a laundry list of responsibilities that have to be fulfilled in our daily lives, but we also find ourselves trying to navigate our way through some of the most uncertain times we’ve ever seen. It’s easy to become weary. Fortunately, God offers plenty of information in His Word about how we can find rest when we’re weary.
Embracing Rest
Resting is one of the most important gifts available to us. Unfortunately, we often push the idea of rest to the side in the name of completing our to-do lists. It’s so easy to become so overwhelmed by the number of tasks you have to complete on any given day that you assume that there’s no way for you to rest. That sort of mindset isn’t sustainable in the long term.
God modeled the importance of rest for us in the verse we read in the Book of Genesis. Rest allows us to regain the energy we need to effectively show people around us the love of God. When God got done creating everything in the heavens and on the earth, He took a day and rested. When the eighth day came around, He went right back to work nurturing and cultivating His creation. In the New Testament, we read about how Jesus took a nap on the back of a boat after a day of performing miracles and spreading the Gospel (Matthew 8:24).
While you may have a long list of places to be, people to take care of and tasks to complete, it’s a vital part of your mental, emotional and spiritual health that you find time to rest. God did it and so should we.
What Does Rest Look Like?
In the physical sense, rest is vital. Your body requires a certain number of hours of sleep and periods of downtime in order to function at its best. However, it’s also important that we find rest for our spirits. Over the course of any given week, there are so many things that come up that can drain us spiritually. Peter tells us that we have an enemy who is constantly looking for ways to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8). Since our spirit is constantly at war with the enemy, we can become weary. As important as it is for us to find rest for our physical body, we also have to find rest for our souls. But what does that look like?
Allow God to Speak to You
One aspect of resting and finding restoration for our souls is meditating on God’s word. When you hear about meditating, you may get this mental picture of sitting on a yoga mat with your legs crossed and your eyes closed but that’s not actually what it means at all in this sense. Meditating on God’s Word means that we focus our thoughts completely to a particular passage of Scripture. There are so many verses in the Bible that provide encouragement in times of trouble. Find some of those verses and completely focus your thoughts on them for a period of time. Allow God to show you exactly how those verses can apply to your life. God’s Word can bring peace and restoration to your spirit, no matter how troubled you may be feeling at the time.
God’s Word is His written way of speaking to His children. When you spend time reading and meditating on God’s Word, it allows Him to speak to you. You can identify areas of your life that you need to put under subjection to the leading of the Holy Spirit while also finding verses that can encourage you when you face troublesome times. Rest with God’s Word.
Identify Distractions
To fully be able to embrace rest, it’s important that we identify the things in our lives that distract us. There are some things that are a necessary part of daily life. If you have a job, you have to go to work. If you have children, you have to take care of them. If you’re married, you have to nurture your marriage. Those are necessities, not distractions. However, most of us have things in our lives that don’t actually contribute anything of substance and are nothing more than a distraction. They’re not sinful, they’re just not beneficial. In 1 Corinthians 10:23, Paul told the church at Corinth that everything was permissible to him but not everything was beneficial.
The same could be said for us. The things in our lives that distract us may not be sinful or forbidden, but they aren’t necessarily beneficial. When you’re looking for times in your schedule to find rest, it will probably require you to identify distractions and cut them off. This may mean that you spend some time every evening without your cell phone in your hand. It may mean that you go to a room in your house where there is no TV and spend some time in study and prayer. It’s easy to say that we don’t have time to rest. However, a look at the things that we do everyday may help us find some time that we could be resting in the Lord while we’re being distracted by trivial matters. Allow God to help you find times where you can spend resting and rejuvenating your spirit during time with Him.
The Purpose of Rest
It has been said multiple times that it’s impossible to pour out of an empty vessel. Spending time in rest with God does more than simply restore your spiritual strength. It also helps ensure that you’re ready to fulfill God’s divine plan for your life. While God has a unique plan for each and everyone of us, there are also some universal plans that God has for His Church. One of those plans is His desire for us to show people around us His love, share the Gospel with them and lead them into a relationship with Him.
You can’t do that if you’re spiritually drained. If you aren’t spending regular time resting in God’s Word, meditating on His truths and allowing Him to minister directly to you, you won’t be able to effectively minister to people around you.
Finding rest for yourself is just as important as the commandment to spread the Gospel to everyone around us (Matthew 28:16-20). When we purpose it in our heart to spread the Gospel message, we will face an increased level of adversity from the enemy. That will lead to us experiencing spiritual weariness and needing to find rest once again. Regular time with God, resting in Him allows us to be restored, refreshed and renewed so we can be empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill the Great Commission.
A Closing Prayer
God, help me to find areas in my life that are distracting me. Give me the courage to admit that I need regular time to rest in Your presence. Even when I become tired, I know that I can find refuge in You. God, refresh, restore and renew me while I seek rest. Help me to experience Your truth while I rest so I can be more effective in Your plan for my life. In the name of Jesus, Amen!