Rest. Who has time to rest!?

In our busy world, rest is a guilty pleasure for many of us.

But is rest a need that we have as human beings, or is it a luxury?

The Hebrew word Sabbath means “to cease” or “to rest,” and the Sabbath is a command God gave to the people of Israel during their 40 years of wandering in the dessert, before arriving in the Promised Land.

The commands read:

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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 do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” - Exodus 20: 8-11

Be honest with yourself: Is the satisfaction of another task accomplished, what your heart ultimately needs the most?

In creating the Sabbath, God set aside the very first day of the week to be special and different. He gave us the Sabbath as a gift (check out Mark 2:27), that we might pause and remember that He is our Creator and Sustainer. That was God’s design for how each of us should begin our week.

Our human reality is this: we are physical, emotional, and spiritual beings - not machines! Each of us needs refreshment. And we can afford to pause from our activity because it is ultimately God’s work that sustains us. The functioning of the world does not rest on our shoulders! (Thank God for that!)

Maybe you’re like me, and your “to-do list” always has a handful of items that sure would be nice to check off.  Be honest with yourself: Is the satisfaction of another task accomplished, what your heart ultimately needs the most? Perhaps you what you really need is to pause and allow the truth to sink into your soul that it is ultimately God who holds all things together.

Take a moment today and pause from your busyness. Thank God for His grace. Jesus gave His life that you might find your life in Him. He is our ultimate place of rest (Hebrews 9:4).

Take a moment today to pause and thank God for that reality, then create a rhythm of life that makes space for a weekly day of rest – to find the regular refreshment in God that each and every one of us needs and enjoy the world that He has made.