REST

What is rest?

As a spiritual discipline, rest can be defined as the ceasing of work with the purpose of focusing on God. 

Why do we need to rest?

We as humans are tasked with work. From the very beginning of creation God tasked humanity with a work to do. Certainly that work became toilsome because of Adam and Eve’s sin, but there always was and always will be work to do. However, God also commanded his people to rest on a regular basis. When Moses presented the commandments to the people of Israel, his fourth statement was regarding the Sabbath. In Exodus 20:9-10a he states “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God”. The idea was that there should be time set aside to cease the work we have been given and instead focus on God. And this idea was drawn directly from God’s example of rest.

So what is rest?

The idea of rest is certainly included in the Sabbath, wherein we set aside a day to focus on God. At LifeWay Church we hold our weekly services on Sunday mornings and encourage all of our congregation to attend, worshiping and learning together. But that is not the only form of rest the Bible talks about.

There are numerous places in the Bible that include the idea of rest.

• “On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done” – Genesis 2:2
  • God gave us a very clear example of rest. Rest in this case is not sleep. It is a cessation of work and a chance to enjoy the fruits of labor.
• “There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For he who has entered into His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” – Hebrews 4:9-10
  • In this verse, rest is used to describe Heaven. While God instructs us to rest regularly while we are here on Earth, He prepares for us a final place of rest when our work is truly complete.
• “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” – Matthew 11:28
  • God provides a rest from the woes of this world.
• “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” – Exodus 33:14
  • In this verse God is telling Moses that He will go with him in order to quell the anxiety Moses is experiencing due to the task before him. Rest here is described as a comfort from the Almighty.
• “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” – Matthew 11:29
  • In Matthew we read that the provider of true rest is none other than God himself.

The idea of Sabbath and rest specifically, is to set aside our work and enjoy the goodness of God. We worship, we learn, we relax, we commune, we delight in God’s creation, we rest. We rest because it is good for our souls. We rest because we are commanded to do so.