Rest Is Not Optional
If you don’t have the time to read this post, you need to read this post.
You have a gazillion items on your to-do list; Christmas is creeping up on you; 2026 is barreling down on you.
You need to read these words:
It is time to rest.
You need to rest because rest is a stake in the ground that declares your trust in God. You need to rest because it demonstrates that you believe he will take care of the work that didn't get done. You believe that God is faithful; therefore, trust that there is time to receive, time to give away, time even to squander.
In all those days that have flown past and in all the days that are creeping toward us, we can rest our weary striving. We can stop. We can breathe. We can “be still and know that [he is] God,” as Psalm 46:10 says.
Hear to the wonder of that command. “Be still. Just be still.”
The prophet Isaiah, in challenging God’s chosen people, spoke for the Lord: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” (Is. 30:15, emphasis mine)
How often do we “have none of it”? How often do we prefer to rush around, frenetically trying to work things out with one hand in the dark? Straining and stressing and making ourselves and other people crazy? Rest is just another four-letter word to avoid. No, my friend.
Rest is beautiful and valuable. Time is not our enemy, nor is the passage of time. Rather, it is holy. God created time and the passage of time and called it good; then God took a specific part of time he had created – the seventh day – and made it even better. Genesis 2:3 says that God rested on the seventh day, making it holy through his rest. He took that particular slice of hours and minutes and named it as sacred. It was a special, set apart time that he then gave to his creation. Resting was so important that Sabbath-keeping became a symbol of the relationship God’s people had with him. Like our post-Jesus salvation, the ancient Hebrews didn’t have to work for their rest, they didn’t have to earn it, they didn’t have to demonstrate their worthiness for it. They just got it – free.
And we, too, are God’s people. We, too, get rest as a special gift to us. We don’t have to work for it, earn it, or prove our worthiness. We just get it – free.
Rest recognizes who we are and who God is and how he feels about us. We are, quite simply, loved for being. We don't have to produce. We don't have to keep up. We don't have to struggle. We don't have to prove who we are. We don't have to be busier or more stressed than our friends in order to be significant. Rest is a chance for us to be reoriented to the truth that we are not in charge of the world. It is a chance to be reoriented to the things that only grow in time, that have to be planted and watered and cultivated – things like creativity, courage, wisdom, kindness, love. People.
Rest reorients us to our abundance – we have time. We have time we can “waste,” and when we “waste” it, we are able to see how rich we truly are. We are able to be more present to those around us, more aware of our world. We are able to live more slowly, more peacefully, with more laughter and relationship. – rather than feeling all the hurry and strain and hectic energy of daily existence.
Rest reminds us that we are free. Free to stop. Free from having to finish our checklist first. Free to put the energy that we expend every other day on millions of tasks and demands, and free to instead put that energy into being alive. Rest is tremendous liberty, not restriction. It's freedom from the hustle, the drive, the press and the pressure. It's freedom to be a creature, to be sustained by God, instead of pretending yet again that we're the creators and sustainers. Rest reminds us that God is good and he gives us good things.
Because here's the real truth – if we wait to rest until the work is done, we will never rest. If we wait to rest until the calendar is clear, we will never rest. If we wait until we can rest perfectly, we will never rest. We must choose to rest, ready or not, because it is time to rest.
We have this beautiful freedom, we have this abundance, but we frequently don’t recognize it. We will “have none of it,” to return to Isaiah’s words. We are too busy to rest; we can’t take a day off to rest each week; two weeks’ vacation is unfathomable. We forget the cost of everything we put in our lives.
We made those choices because we are in charge. It may not feel like it, but we have the power of yes and no. If rest is important – is necessary – then it deserves space on our schedules and something else will have to go in order for there to be room. Maybe you choose a demotion at work so you’re not as stressed. Maybe you cancel your cable subscription so you regain your evening hours. Maybe you only put the kids in school-sponsored sports that have games and practices during the weekdays so that weekends are kept free. These may seem like crazy ideas, but you have the power to do them and rest might require it. If you do not make rest a priority, it will not happen. What truly matters – the sports or the jobs or the accolades, or those other things that grow with the nurturing that only comes with time?
Rest is an investment that pays ongoing dividends, but only if we receive this gift. Only if we choose to rest. Only if we take the chance to taste and see that the Lord is good.
For specific, practical examples of rest, click here.
