Hello my lovely readers! Are you feeling exhausted and overwhelmed? Do you feel that there is never enough time to get everything done, let alone take a break? If so, maybe you need to learn how to rest. Personally, it’s hard for me to take time to rest. I tend to focus too much on work, work, work. But God has been teaching me to relax and take a break. He loves me just as much whether I do everything on my list or not. In this post, I want to encourage you to rest.
Read on to learn 3 reasons that God wants us to rest.
1. God designed us to rest.
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he 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.
Genesis 2:2-3
In God’s original creation, He designed us to live by natural rhythms. Eat and drink. Wake and sleep. Rest and work.
He gave us six days to work and the seventh to rest and enjoy Him.
God didn’t need to rest on the seventh day. He never grows weary or tired (Isaiah 40:28).
But He knew that we, in our frailty, would need to rest.
During the French Revolution, men who hated God tried to instate a 10-day week instead of God’s 7-day week. This revolutionary idea was unsustainable, exhausting men and even the animals who worked for them. After 13 years, it was abolished by Napoleon when he took over France.
2. Rest means trusting God.
The danger of working too much is that we gradually depend more on our own efforts rather than the grace of God. We think, “If I just work hard enough…try hard enough….everything will turn out perfectly!”
But the reality is that we all need God’s grace every moment. We can do nothing without Him (John 15:5).
Rest is a choice to trust God. It means that, because my Father is in control, I can rest. I don’t have to worry or work incessantly.
And, when we trust God, we also enjoy better physical rest. We sleep better at night.
To rest, we need to trust God fully.
3. Rest gives us time to enjoy God.
Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Psalm 37:4
This verse does NOT say, “Work hard for the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” It says delight in Him.
God didn’t save you and me primarily so that we could accomplish lots of things on his to-do list. Of course, He has good works for us to do. But they are but harmony to the melody He wants us to sing.
More than anything else, God wants our hearts. He wants us to love Him in every situation and every moment of life. Whether waking or sleeping, resting or working, God wants us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, strength, and might.
This is harder than being a faithful worker or a good servant.
But, is it any less than He deserves?
My challenge for you is this:
Let us learn to love God, not merely work for Him. Let us seek Him with all our hearts and yield ourselves to His yoke.
For, when we do so, He will give us true rest.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Jesus, in Matthew 11:28-29
