I just had
some time off and I have been meaning to write something on this issue of rest for
some time now. I also intend to preach about this at some point, and I think this
is incredibly needed. We live in a very busy society. Busyness is how people identify
themselves. We all do it. I catch myself doing it too much. “How are you going?”
We ask, and the answer is often, “Busy, very busy.” I think it is genuine to
say that busyness is an idol for many modern people.
I especially
see this in online circles. Many commentators, bloggers and writers, have a
compulsion to always be online, always posting, always making sure their
platform is growing. How often do you see one of the youtubers you watch go on
vacation and they are recording some video from their hotel room, or they have
a friend running their channel and uploading videos for them. Some people feel
compelled to post, upload and connect online continually. Not just socially either,
but to grow their platform.
I did an
experiment a couple of years ago. I decided for one year I was going to post
every day on my blog. I think I missed one or two days because I was away from any
internet services. But overall I did it, and my platform did grow somewhat. What
was good about it was that it forced me to write better, write more often, and
also to broaden the range of things I wrote about. By the end of the year my
writing ability had actually grown markedly.
What was not
good about it is that I felt compelled to post and compelled to write daily,
and this actually felt like slavery. Self-imposed slavery. After the year was
up I considered for a while continuing to post every day, and then I decided, nope this is not right. It is not just not good for me, I don’t think it is
biblical. So I settled on doing 4 or 5 blog posts a week, and one or two Substacks,
which are usually just selected from my blogs.
The advantage
of having done this is that I massively increased my output, and showed myself
that I could write faster, more regularly and on more topics. But I don’t ever
plan to go back to writing every day because rest is important. Here are some
biblical principles of rest.
Rest Is
Rooted in Creation (Genesis 2:1–3)
God Himself
rested on the seventh day after finishing His work of creation. This sets the
pattern that rest is not merely for recovery but for delight in God’s completed
work. Rest, therefore, is part of God’s good design for human flourishing.
If God needed
to rest, or at least chose to rest, then how much more important is it that we
choose to rest from our labours. Writing is not my fulltime profession, I am a
vocational minister, that is my fulltime profession. I consider writing part of
my public witness and an extension of my work, but I have other duties. I need
to balance my time, my energy, and my efforts, so as to maximize my ministry, and not harm it. And therefore rest is important. It is especially important to
follow God’s example of setting aside at least a day a week to wind down.
Rest Is
Grounded in God’s Covenant (Exodus 20:8–11; Deuteronomy 5:12–15)
That God’s
day of rest is an example to all of us is made explicit by the fact that Moses
looks back to the six days of work and the sabbath rest of God to structure the
work week of Israel. The Sabbath command teaches Israel to rest as an act of
obedience and trust. In Exodus, it points back to God’s rest in creation; in
Deuteronomy, it recalls redemption from slavery. Rest is both imitation of God
and celebration of His saving work.
This linking
of rest to trust is so important. Some people work all the time precisely
because they are anxious about something. Anxious about clicks, views, sales, anxious
about being replaced by someone else. There are many reasons that people do not
trust God enough to rest, and therefore reminding ourselves that we need to
trust God and rest is vitally important.
Someone might
ask, Matt, if God worked 6 days a week and rested on the 7th, why
don’t you write 6 days a week? Well, because writing is only an extension of my
labour, my work week. I have other duties as well.
It is very
obvious though that Moses wanted his people to understand that provision is not
entirely upon our shoulders. If you feel compelled to work on days you should
be resting, because you are afraid of what you may lose, you simply do not have
a biblical enough view of God. He is our provider. We are in covenant with him.
Do you not trust him?
True Rest
Comes from Trusting God (Psalm 62:1; Isaiah 30:15)
The Psalms
and the prophets build on this. Israel was bad at rest. Very bad at it. Our
culture of continual busyness is not new. The Psalms and Prophets remind us
that rest is more than a day off—it is soul rest that flows from depending on
God rather than striving in our own strength. “In returning and rest you shall
be saved” (Isa. 30:15). Rest means reliance.
Why do you
think that a Simeonite or Ephraimite was gathering wood on the Sabbath day,
even though he knew it was forbidden? He had become disconnected from God and
finding his rest in his God. The person who truly trusts God understands the
need to reconnect with God, be fed by his word, forget the anxieties of this
world for a moment, a day, a few days, and give all of their worry and anxiety
unto God.
How many
people do you know who can’t sit down and are constantly doing stuff around
their home, both men and women? This is often a product of anxiety. Keeping
busy is quieting their mind, quieting the anguish in their soul. What they really
need is some time with God, and with good strong Christian friends, so that
they can let go of what is driving them stir crazy. Our culture has forgotten
this, and it is why psychology is such a big business.
Much of the
money psychologists make is because people have very few friends, refuse to
make time for friends, or because they have not spent enough time in prayer,
contemplation, bible reading, and meditating on the works of great Christian
thinkers. These things could bring many people the rest and peace they desire,
but they have forgotten to pursue this.
Jesus
Fulfills and Offers Rest (Matthew 11:28–30; Hebrews 4:1–11)
Our ultimate
rest is in Jesus. Hebrews 4 tells us that Joshua could not ultimately achieve rest
for the Hebrews, because he was not the ultimate messiah. Remember Jesus is
just a transliteration of Yeshua, or ‘Isous, which in English is Joshua. Jesus
is the ultimate bringer of rest. Salvation in Jesus is the true promised land,
and in him we have access to the heaven, the ultimate fulfilment of rest.
Jesus calls
the weary to Himself, promising rest for their souls. Cast your burdens on
Jesus, for he cares for you, as the old song goes, and as Matthew 11 states. He
is the true Sabbath, fulfilling what the Old Testament Sabbath foreshadowed.
Hebrews 4 explains that believers enter God’s rest not by works but by faith in
Christ’s finished work on the cross.
It is no
wonder that so many people are ill at ease in this world. They have rejected
Jesus and have been given over to the lack of rest that results from this. If
your soul is created to find rest in Jesus Christ, how can you live in peace if
you do not have this. You will continually be seeking it everywhere else. Which
is what many people are doing. Trust in Jesus.
If you are
created to find rest in Jesus, then taking time to hear from his word, praying
with him, and following his example of resting and withdrawing is vital. We all
need to do this. Jesus did this, and therefore we need it even more.
Eternal
Rest Awaits God’s People (Revelation 14:13; 21:3–4)
The story of
rest culminates in eternity, where those who die in the Lord “rest from their
labors.” In the new creation, God wipes away every tear, and His people enjoy
perfect, unbroken fellowship with Him forever. Rest here is complete
restoration. We are restored to full fellowship with God in the full presence
of God and we will live completely in the light of his glory. When we take time
out from the busyness of life on occasion we actually are giving ourselves a
small glimpse of heaven.
Obviously, people
can take this idea of rest too far and be lazy. But the Bible says there is no peace for the
wicked for a reason (Isa. 48:22), because laziness and never resting are both
products of wickedness.
To rest is to
trust in God, to recognize that not everything is on you, and to allow yourself
to be recharged for a new season of productivity. Rest is vital, don’t neglect
it.
One of my
favourite Psalms, already mentioned above, touches on this. Here is the Psalm
in full. I encourage you to meditate on it when you have time.
1 For
God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
3 How
long will all of you attack a man
to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse. Selah
5 For
God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
8 Trust
in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
9 Those
of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.
10 Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
11 Once
God has spoken;
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
12 and that to you, O Lord, belongs
steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
according to his work.
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