Take a Rest and be refreshed

Without a doubt every single person needs rest and refreshing from time to time. Nobody goes through life without a moment or two where the reply to being asked, “How is your soul?” is met the response “I feel dry,” or “stretched” or “stale.” This isn’t necessarily because they’ve done something wrong.

Life can just take it out of you!

However you feel about your soul today, God desires to be the source of your refreshing and is ready for you just as you are to exchange His goodness for whatever you have.

I’ve been working since 2009 and I know that I rarely take rest. I am convinced that multitasking is a big thing and I work my ass off nonstop while pursuing my dreams. Soon, I find myself weary and tired — always needing refreshment and renewing. Today, I will be sharing my thoughts why we should take rest seriously.

Rest helps us function well.

If you deprive any animal of sleep, even for a short period, it will die. There are biological, psychological, theological and sociological needs for us to rest. In other words, rest is LOGICAL. Scientist before thought that when we sleep, the brain shuts down. Now we know that when we sleep at night our resting brains are far from idle. According to Harvard research, in sleep our brains go to work consolidating memories, reviewing the events and conversations of the day and looking for creative solutions to the problems we have faced. Every second of our life we are busy producing antibodies, repairing ourselves and adapting. Removing rest damages our ability to remember and learn. As a matter of fact, it also increases the chances of stroke and heart attack, giving it higher chance of getting other illnesses, mess up our skin and immunity.

When I read information like this, I just want to praise him for how wonderfully He has made us! We are intricately built and fabulously designed. But we have a part to play in order to help ourselves function at our best.

Psalm 127:2 says, “It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.”

I think one of the problems we face is that we work hard and then wait for the world to grant us the space to rest. But it never comes. I know based from my experiences, we are not going to magically find a time where our life slows down. Therefore, we need to deliberately practice rest now. It’s hard. It requires discipline and planning. If you want to rest, you will have to prioritize it and be intentional with it.

2. Rest strengthens us and brings us confident peace.

Our rest is precious. I love the pure and wonderful wisdom of what Philippians 4:13 says: “I can do all things which He has called me to do through Him who strengthens and empowers me to fulfill His purpose — I am self sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.”

Our personal worlds today are so fast-paced that we can feel as though we are constantly battling fatigue. Not perhaps from the physical labor that our ancestors dealt with, but from the mental gymnastics we endure to try and stay ahead of the game. Sometimes my body can look still, but my mind is far from it. The inner workings of my brain are pacing and racing as the “to do” list in my consciousness urgently scribbles a few more late entries. So, friends I pray that we take some time to call to mind that we can do ALL the things He has called us to do through Christ alone, and not from our self-sufficiency.

3. We are just as loved by God when we are resting.

Our society so often defines us by what we do. So, when a person is “doing nothing” they can feel a sense of guilt or inadequacy during those periods. Some of us are terrified of people thinking we are being slothful. But the truth is, we are just as loved by God when we are resting as it also means that we are trusting Him. We are just as whole, just as precious and just as saved. I actually learned this from Rick Warren. He presented how God created Adam and Eve. In Genesis, we actually learned how God created everything in 6 days and then that Adam and Eve’s first day was a day off. This tells us that God didn’t define Adam by his usefulness. This gives me confidence that God doesn’t judge us by our productivity or our CV either. God doesn’t value us or love us because of the fact that we can work but simply because he loves us because he made us.

We can see rest as simply an absence of work, but this robs rest of its power and strength. Rest is not just a negative vacuum — a time of counting the hours before work starts again. Someone doing this is not resting from work in his or her mind or his or her body at all. We need to realize that we need to rest well in order to live well. We also need to rest efficiently to work effectively.

4. Rest is Biblical.

God designed us to need and take regular rest and be refreshed. He was specific about not working for one whole day a week and taking it as a holy. But sadly, some of us just blatantly ignore Him. We keep going, doing and being. As a result, we get like a few of the seven dwarfs in Snow White: Grumpy, Dopey and Sneezy!

God commanded that we rest on the Sabbath. Then he blessed it. When we avoid having a Sabbath we miss out on that life-giving, healing blessing.

5. Rest reconnects us to Him

When we rest, we reconnect with our Father and this makes us both strong and unshakeable. Rest isn’t just about a day off, but a day plugged in to God himself. In Matthew 11:28, we read Jesus’ words, “Come to me… I will give you rest.” In other words, Jesus is saying, “I am the source of rest. I am rest. Come to me and get it.”

A decent and recent day of rest recharges us and helps our spirit function at its best.

6. A contented heart is a heart at rest.

It is so healthy to take time out to look for the hidden ways God’s goodness is at work in our loves and be intentional about thanking Him fir those personal blessings.

7. Rest is about waiting quietly and putting our hope in Him.

Sometimes we are ashamed of our tiredness. We try and stifle our yawns and hide our flu symptoms, sneak some medication and carry on. But we all need physical rest. Sometimes we need a proper Jesus-style nap. Yes, even Jesus sleeps even in the middle of a crisis. He knew He was tired but He also knew He was completely safe!

I don’t know what you are like when you are tired. When I’m in need of rest I can be short-fused, prone to high emotion and unable to be truly grateful. God knows that I am not nice to be around when I need sleep! So, he gave me permission, through this simple story, that even in the middle of crazy times in my life, to grab a pillow and REST!

Psalm 62:5 says,”Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him.” Many of us try and complicate this but rest is actually pretty simple — it is about waiting quietly and putting our hope where it belongs –in HIM.