resting Archives | Christian Learning & News

Resting in God is difficult for me. I am a person of action. If I’m not in action, I’m probably sleeping. Everyone I know is overwhelmed with action items. We are struggling through each day trying to make progress.

Even God, while creating the world, took the seventh day off. “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 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 2:1-3)

The creator certainly sets a good example for His people to follow. We must take time for resting in God or it will catch up with us. Rest doesn’t come easy, but God designed us to need rest. Yes, we can work hard, but we must rest.

Resting In God Is Found In Jesus

I’ve come to understand that Jesus is the source of peace and rest in my life. Peace is not something I can conjure up on my own. It’s not in my power. I only receive it when Jesus offers it to me. Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Jesus is telling us, “You don’t have to try so hard. You must go where I go, do what I tell you to do. Resting in God is found in me, and I’ll make sure we get where we’re going.”

In the normal course of action, however, good habits for rest are an important factor in daily life. Certainly, I’m not the model for good habits. However, I’ve had to learn a few of these habits the hard way. Here are some tips for developing a restful way of life.

Prayer

Prayer helps me to focus my attention on God, reminding me I’m not in control. The creator of the universe is directing my steps. This works best in my life by developing a habit of continuous, regular connection with my creator.

A few years back, I tried an experiment of connecting with God once every 60 minutes through the course of my waking hours. John Burke, pastor and author outlines this practice in his book, Soul Revolution. Burke describes the development of habit over 60 days. He says, “As you go through your days, seek a continuous conversation with God, using every sixty-minute beep of the watch as a reminder to reorient yourself into a continuous conversation of willingness.”

I find this habit to be central to a pattern of good communication with God. It helps to develop a habit of continuous prayer. I don’t have to use a beeping alarm every hour to remain connected. Instead, I connect with God every time I get up from my desk. As I go through my day, I take God along. I pray short prayers, connecting with Him every chance I get. Peace is added to my day by a continuous connection with God.

Paul told the Christ-followers in Ephesus, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (Ephesians 6:18)

Bible Study

To rest easy, you need to know God’s Word. Taking time to know the Bible helps you to recall it more easily when you need it. Many scriptures talk about how to react when you’re worried and struggling. God tells us repeatedly, “do not fear, for I am with you.” (Isaiah 41:10)

Knowing what the Bible says will help you tap into the peace that can only come from the Prince of Peace. We can know peace because we know Peace – Jesus Christ. In a favorite passage, Jesus tells His followers, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

When I have trouble sleeping due to stress or anxiety, I often turn to Psalms in the Bible. The Psalms have a way of helping me in times of trouble. They remind me I’m not alone. Psalms handles this with poetry and songs. Many of these were written by David, who struggled with depression and crippling anxiety.

Psalms has a way of calming me, especially the verses that praise God, helping me realize He loves me. Reading scripture helps me to ease my troubled mind and find peace – sometimes enough peace to sleep.

Avoid Distractions

Not all rest is sleep. Sometimes I need to turn off the television. Sometimes I need to go for a walk. Sometimes a day of solitude might be in order. A day of rest or even an hour or two of rest can do wonders for my mental health.

You can see that rest is not just sitting on the couch or sleeping it off. It’s developing good habits for mental health. When you go for a walk or exercise, it releases cortisol in your brain. That will make you feel better.

Good Spiritual Habits

Developing good habits for rest and following Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is the best way to find rest in God. Commit yourself to a regular habit of prayer, reading God’s Word, and avoiding distractions is a great start to finding rest. Stepping into a moment-by-moment journey with the creator will lead you to the rest you need.

You Can Learn to Remain in God’s Rest

One of the primary purposes of the gospel being preached was for us to enter into the rest of God. “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest…” (Hebrews 4:2-3)

For Israel, in the wilderness, the word (gospel) was preached to them and the literal “rest” on the horizon was the land of Canaan, which serves as a type of rest for us today. While ultimately this Promised Land is our future inheritance in God, we also have a rest available to us today which we are behooved to enter. As a matter of fact, we are instructed in the Word to be “diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” (4:11)

Diligence and obedience are two character traits that will serve us well as escorts into rest.

There is no better example or model for us to follow in this regard than God Himself. We are told in Genesis that God rested after His creative work was finished. Our modern usage of the word makes us think that “rest” is something we enter into because we are in need of it, mainly due to the fact that we are tired. But God Himself rested and thus we must glean additional meaning from the word.

God rested after He said or spoke everything He wanted to say at that time. “Let there be” was declared from His heart and when He was finished there was rest. Principle: Our hearts find rest when there is a full expression of God’s Word. When He declares His intent (“Let there be”) into your life, you can be assured that His goal is to bring you into His rest. I’ve discovered, however, a certain turbulence in the process.

The turbulent stream comes from two qualities of His Word: piercing and discerning. “For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (4:12)

I believe that the pattern of creation we see in Genesis still holds true today, in several respects. God, with Jesus at His side, is still in a creative flow. It’s an attribute of our Creator. Jesus our Intercessor is declaring the intent of God (His Word) into our lives even today. His Word is living, powerful, sharp, piercing and discerning. We are also encouraged in that we have a sympathetic High Priest, well acquainted with every temptation we will ever encounter. Therefore we can come boldly to the throne to obtain mercy and grace. So, with the piercing and discerning there is mercy and grace.

The rest of God is a place where His Word is perfectly spoken. It was so in the Genesis creation and it remains so in every creative cycle that we find ourselves in.

Another aspect that came to mind was that God’s artistic expression begins with a blank canvas. It sounds nice and clean, and it is, from God’s perspective. But this blank canvas, from our vantage point, often feels like total darkness. In the beginning, when God was starting to shape His portrait, there was darkness and the Spirit of God was hovering. We have all known the experience of darkness when God is forming a new thing in our lives.

Psalm 139 tells us that “the darkness is not dark” to God. But to us mortals…how dark it can seem! A blank canvas really is necessary. If I was the Painter, that’s how I would start. God is good and He creates good things. What He forms is beautiful and He sees the end from the beginning. Be assured that His creative work begun in your life will be completed until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

The path into rest is trodden choice by choice. Remember that it takes diligence to enter His rest and other “options” will present themselves. God rested in the garden and Adam and Eve were a part of that experience. But there was an option presented to them and they fell into its sway. Psalm 95: 8 – 11 offers us a sober warning: Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. Therefore I swore in my wrath. They shall not enter my rest.”

Along with the offer of rest comes the temptation to rebel. The option in the day of trial is to “jump ship” and escape the heat. God was grieved for forty years with a people and He cites two reasons. “It is a people who go astray in their hearts and they do not know My ways. Two keys to entering His rest:

1) Keep your heart aligned.

2) Seek to know His ways.

Entering into the rest of God is not without turbulence. But rebellion, choosing what appears to be an easier path at the moment, will, in the end, be of a much greater turbulence, one that will overwhelm and potentially shipwreck our faith. So continue to receive His Word into your life. He is declaring, “Let there be”, over your heart. Trust Him to fill the blank canvas; to be the Light in your darkness. Believe in the power of His grace and mercy to enable you to choose rightly and refuse other options.

The Lord asks, “Where is the place of my rest?” (Isaiah 66:1) He identifies one location. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My Word. (66:2)