Rest? I'm Too Busy!
What comes to your mind when you see or hear that word? Peace, sleep, comfort, stillness, quiet – these are the words that jumped from my fingers to the page as I first considered those four letters. And others might be saying, “Rest? I’m too Busy! But God pushes the issue. He calls us to Sabbath.
I have never been one who rests easily or well. Perhaps part of the problem is that I grew up in the home of a farmer’s son and another farmer’s daughter. There was always something to do on our six acres of the country. The worst label anyone could apply to me was “lazy.” Mom and Dad cautioned us children never to give anyone a legitimate opportunity to use our name in the same sentence as that four-letter word. Rest would wait until the chores were completed!
I eventually learned that being a hard worker, a child of God who diligently labors in the fields that God provides, does not mean being one who despises rest. In fact, the truth is quite the opposite.
Early in God’s word we come across the first mention of rest. Following the sixth day of a fabulous creation, Genesis 2:2 tells us that the ultimate Creator, One Whom the psalmist tells us “will neither slumber nor sleep” (Ps 121:4), rested and that He “blessed the seventh day and sanctified it . . . .”
We move to the next book of the Bible, where in Exodus 16 Moses addressed the leaders of the nomadic tribes of Israel who were amazed that they had gathered twice as much manna on the sixth day of the week: “This is what the Lord [spoke]: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath (i.e. rest) to the Lord’” (v. 23).
And then the scene shifts to Mount Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments from the hand of God. Situated in the first five commands, God told the new nation of Israel, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
True resting in God is foreshadowed throughout the books of the Old Testament Scriptures. But it is finally revealed to us in full view in Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11:28: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” In the world’s first week, God established a principle of rest that He would bring to fulfillment in millennia to come. The Sabbath was designed for His people to reflect on and remember Him. He reiterated this idea in the fourth commandment when He made the Sabbath a requirement for Israel. And He reminded the nation of Israel throughout the pages leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ that rest can only be found in and through Him.
And now the source of that rest has come in the flesh and dwelt among us. In response to our need for a Savior, Jesus “humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). He took on Himself the penalty for the sin of all men and women for all time and experienced separation from His Father for the first and only time when in His agony He cried out on the cross, “My God! My God! Why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
So where does that leave us as we consider the concept of rest? The provision of God through the finished work of Jesus Christ is the “What” and the “Who,” giving us the opportunity for rest from the cares, concerns, and carnality of this world. And the writer of Hebrews makes it clear that we are to desire that glorious rest when he says, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest . . .” (v. 4:12).
Confession Alert!! I must admit that I still have trouble resting. In fact, I sometimes even feel guilty not being busy. But God not only calls me to find rest in my soul through Jesus; He calls me to quiet my soul and my body purposefully and regularly so I can focus on Him Who is the only source of true, eternal rest.
As we approach the coming Lord’s Day and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, let us prepare by thanking God for the rest that we can have from the cares of this world. Let us focus on the eternal God, the One of Whom the prophet Isaiah says, “The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired” (40:28). Let us live in anticipation of the eternal rest that He has promised us and the foretaste of that rest that we can enjoy today.
And perhaps one is reading this who, even though you have heard of this rest, you have never experienced it. For you, the call of God is clear: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31). You, too, can enter into the rest that only Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, can provide. Will you call on Him and experience that rest today?
And speaking of rest, . . .
. . . our Senior Pastor will be returning to us from a time of sabbatical on August 13. Please pray for Kathy and Craig as they begin to wrap up the time of purposeful rest that they have enjoyed since the middle of May. Pray for the other Elders as we work with Craig upon His return, and pray that God will be glorified as our local Body of Christ seeks to serve and worship Him.
In the meantime, I look forward to being with you and worshiping our great God and Savior this coming Lord’s Day!
Lovingly,
Bart Sheridan
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