How Do I Rest Well?
You might’ve noticed that Sabbath rest is a hot topic in Christian churches, books, and small groups right now. It’s not without good reason: our culture is overworked, underrested, and just plain hurried. Our fixation on Sabbath reflects our craving for meaningful rest.
And while rest seems simple enough, if you’re anything like me, resting well is a lot harder than it looks. We think that bingeing our favorite show will make us feel brand new again, when really it just makes us want to sink further into the couch. Laying in bed a little longer makes us feel lazy. Pushing an errand back one more day leaves us battling guilt because we weren’t productive today. A lot of times, our attempts to rest leave us feeling worried and behind, rather than nourished and renewed.
When we try to rest our way–based on our preferences, impulses, or productivity guilt–we miss the life-giving rest God is calling us into. That’s why Sabbath rest, a practice dating all the way back to Genesis 2 and the 10 Commandments, is so necessary. It makes rest about God, not us. It gives our hearts, minds, and souls the relief we need to press on in our hurried world.
So how do we enter God’s rest? If we look at our Bibles we’ll find that Sabbath is a command and invitation from God to spend one day each week intentionally resting in His provision and care. But what does that practically look like? I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of that question for a while now, and thankfully 2 Chronicles caught my attention. In chapter 32, after God saved King Hezekiah and Judah from the Assyrian army, the story ends like this:
“So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the power of King Sennacherib of Assyria and from the power of all others. He gave them rest on every side.” (2 Chronicles 32:22)
Next to ‘rest’ in the last sentence, there was a tiny little letter with a footnote in my Bible. The footnote says ‘literally, he led them.’ God gave Judah rest on every side by leading them on every side. No one got antsy and tried to jump in, or take the situation into their own hands. Judah was at rest because they were led by God.
The same can be true for us: we experience rest when we are led by God.
When we struggle to Sabbath, or even just to stop and rest for a moment, we can look to God for leadership. We can ask Him, What should I do today? We can listen for His voice in prayer, write our struggles and reflections down in surrender, or read our Bibles in an effort to learn His heart for us. However we most authentically connect with God’s voice is a faithful place to begin, as long as we let God lead us to rest.
And even after we get started, Sabbath rest will take practice and intentional slowing from us. I typically say I’ve tried practicing Sabbath for a year now because learning to quiet ourselves enough to follow God’s voice takes time and discipline.
But be encouraged! As we pursue Sabbath rest, we become more familiar with God’s desires for our lives. We experience relief from the world’s silent message to go, go, go. We learn to surrender our stresses to God’s leadership and rest in Him. From His guidance, we too can have rest on every side.
As always prayers, thoughts, and questions are welcome in the comments section below. Whether you feel energized or worn out, you belong here!
