R e s t
God wants us to rest.
He made the seventh day a Holy day of rest.
“Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he rested from all the work of creating He had done.” (Genesis 2:3)
“In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.” (Psalm 127:2)
If we don’t rest, we tire ourselves out.
If we tire ourselves out, we lose time we need to spend with God.
I love this quote from John Gray: “Rest is where your faith is.”
Jesus Himself shows us how important rest is:
In what He says to Martha…
“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10:38-42)
In leading His apostles and the crowd of five thousand He fed to rest…
Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
In being our rest…
“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)
There are numerous other times where our Lord points out that sometimes we need to stop what we’re doing, find a quiet place, and pray and spend time with Him.
Rest is very important in our relationship with GOD.
