Rest

Rest...something we all desire. Something we all desperately need but rarely make time for. Making time to rest tends to fall at the bottom of our priority list, when actually it should be at the top. The obsession with "keeping ourselves busy" is making us as a society sick and destroying our relationships. Often the relationship that suffers the greatest is with our Heavenly Father.

On the 7th day, after God had finished all his many marvelous creations, He rested. He prioritized rest, because even the Father in his absolute strength and undeniable perfection knew the importance of rest. I do not think the Father's rest was just because he was tired from all he had just done. I like to think it was because on the 6th day when he created Adam and Eve he fell so in love with them that he wanted to take the day off and just be with them, so he rested.

In the new testament Jesus said  "I only do what I see my Father do" the Father set an example of rest from the beginning of time for the very first man. Rest was so important to him that he mentions it 388 times in the bible and set aside a full day every week for us to rest and commanded us to honor that day. Rest is important because in our rest, we create opportunity to draw close to the Father and he longs to be close to us.

Rest is difficult to prioritize, especially for someone like me.  I am a busy person and most of the time my week is planned out hour by hour. In fact I schedule an entire day to rest (in addition to Sunday) on my weekly calendar. When I ignore my "rest day" and fill that day with "busy" I always regret it by the time the weekend comes. My body needs rest more so than a lot of others. I have endured a lot physically and if I don't rest it hits me body, mind and spirit. My husband tells me on a regular basis that I need to slow down and rest, just between you and me… he is always right. When I rest my favorite thing to do is sit and worship, read, or write. It's relaxing to me to do those things. The things I love to do when I rest are the things that cultivate an atmosphere to encounter Jesus and draw close to Holy Spirit.  

I recently listened to a podcast on Rest by Jonathan Helser, in it he said something that stuck out to me. He said "Burn out happens when our doing exceeds our being, great leaders know how to rest, they know how to sustain themselves and run the race." How many times do we run ourselves ragged in the name of ministry? That is not the heart of the Father. When we minister to others it should be from a place of rest. We work from rest not for it. The Sabbath, our day of rest, is the first day of the week for a reason. We were created with the need for rest and the Father knew we needed to begin with it. I am not saying we never need to go and do, we absolutely need to fulfill the great commission but before we are capable of pouring into those activations we MUST connect with the Father. If we have no connection we have no influence, we have no power. Connection and encounter happen when we rest, when we just hang out in His presence.

Biblically speaking Sabbath (rest) is not an option, it is the 4th commandment. He commands us to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy… Holy means "set apart, consecrated, sacred, blessed, divine, revered". Rest is sacred, it came before the fall which to me means our need for rest would have been there whether sin had entered the world or not. Rest is God's original design, we were created perfectly in the image of God with a need to rest.

We are seeing the world around us highly affected by lack of rest. Sickness, disease, depression and anxiety are on the rise and I believe our lack of rest plays a huge roll in all of those. I have watched my dear friend and my sister be knocked upside the head with adrenal fatigue. It has been a huge struggle for both of them physically and spiritually. In the midst of pain, anxiety, sickness and unbelievable exhaustion they both have learned that if they do not make time to rest the situation only escalates. Both of them would tell you to stop pushing yourself so had, to make time for rest now, and to take care of your mind, body, and spirit by giving it the rest it needs.

Psalm 91:1 says "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord; He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God and I trust him." Our dwelling, the place where we live should be in the hands of our Father. It is there that we find rest and it is in our rest that our battles are won and we are safe. When we rest in the Father we are home. He is like comfy sweats and a warm fire on a cold stormy night. He brings peace in times of terror and healing to our sickness. He is our strength and our covering, our shelter and our protection. All of these things come when we rest in the shadow of the almighty. So go take a nap, listen to a podcast, surround yourself with worship, read, write, sing, bake, cook, draw, paint, do whatever makes you feel close to the Father and be restored. Rest.