Rest

Everyone who knows me knows that when it comes to rest, I have struggled!! I am always on go and sometimes it hasn’t ended too well and I’ve been left forced to take a step back and breathe. The majority of times I’ve been able to push through and succeed. I’ve always thought I understood rest - sleep! (this is wrong btw) I assumed that taking a day off was enough, but it wasn’t until last year that I started to understand - started, because I am not a master yet - that rest is more than just sleeping.

Rest isn’t just sleeping, it’s recharging, it’s taking a step back from working (or a specific work) to replenish what has been lost. Even our phones need periods of resting and recharging. We don’t recharge them just so they sit unused, we recharge them so they have enough ‘juice’ to be capable of carrying out the tasks before them. And yes our phone’s task might be to allow you to scroll on tiktok or insta for hours or to allow you the space to FaceTime your besties just to sit in silence, but our tasks are much more important and involved. Pertaining to ministry specifically, there’s a lot of work to be done and it takes a lot out of us at times, it’s not easy but we’re not alone.

We often hear as Christians that we need to rest in the Lord. And in case you didn’t know - this is scripture:

Psalms 37:7 (NKJV) “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.”

And before we further get into the meaning of ‘resting in the Lord,’ let’s understand our definition of rest. Rest means to “be based on or grounded in; depend on”, “place hope, trust, or confidence on or in,” “place (something) so that it is supported in a specified position.” Now you may be wondering how these Google definitions apply to ‘resting in the Lord’ so let me tell you!! If we are saying that to rest is to depend on, place our confidence in and be supported by… then the whole phrase ‘rest in the Lord’ means to allow yourself to depend on the Lord. It means place your confidence in the Lord. It means to be supported by the Lord. It’s deep y’all.

For my fellow musical people, in songs there’s often a ‘rest’ or a break in a song, and we know that this rest does not signify the end of the song, but rather it’s a time to catch your breather before a usually strenuous, upbeat part of the song. Y’all get where I am going with this? Resting gives you time to dwell and prepare yourself for what is coming ahead!

One thing I learned is that sometimes our rest might require a new kind of work. And that sounds counterintuitive right? But to rest in the Lord and do it the right way, we need to put in the work of trusting God, of abiding under the shadow of the almighty, of forcing ourselves to say no! Resting requires faith and a belief that God will come through. Exodus 33:14 says “ The Lord replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” The presence of the Lord brings rest!! But entering that presence takes intentionality because we have to allow God to be God, we have to let go of the things we have held with a firm grip. In the story of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42), we see that Martha is hard at work doing what she thinks is required of her in that season, but Mary has seen that to rest and abide at the feet of Jesus is the better thing, the Bible even refers to it as the “necessary” thing. Abiding is staying put and it’s not a very demanding task, but it’s a decision you need to make. Even though Mary made this decision, her sister Martha saw her as lazy, as idle — and others may say the same of you in your period of rest, you might even say it of you — but true rest requires this stillness in the presence of the Lord. Finding it hard to rest is not unnatural, it’s actually quite normal - most people have been taught to be self-reliant and as such always aim to work. Many of us might have even considered going to help Martha and be ‘distracted’ with serving. But that is not what is ‘necessary.’ Don’t get me wrong, service is GOOD, great even, but we need to know when it is time to rest and recharge.

I’ve used this word recharge a couple of times, because I really do see rest as a time to recharge our spiritual batteries, so to speak. And every time you charge something you connect it to a power source. And as we have learned in a previous blog (The Source by David Nortey), God is our source and to access Him is free of charge - so why wouldn’t we tap in? I’ll tell you what happens when we don’t tap in and stay connected — we wither away, and we become useless. (John 15:1-6) And don’t be afraid that your source will run out because:

“In the world we live in everything runs out eventually, but not with God. God doesn’t have a limit because He is the ULTIMATE source.” — David Nortey, “The Source”

And fortunately for us, God is our only source (1 Corinthians 8:6) so we never have to get confused about who to turn to in times where we need rest and recharging. I remember a quote from a sermon and I wish I remembered who said it but he said so beautifully that:

“There’s nowhere to rest when you run from the God of rest.”

Hearing that shook my core, because the God of the Heavens and the Earth even rested and declared there to be a day of rest. (Genesis 2:2) If God created rest, why would I look anywhere else for my rest? Why would I not go directly to the creator for help understanding the thing that He created?

Like we’ve learned today, rest is not just sleep or taking a weekend off (although it can look like these things). Rest may look like fasting, like taking time from your leadership positions so seek God’s face. I’ve learned that rest might not just be a break from serving, it is a time where you can even rediscover the why for your service. It is dangerous to not rest, especially as workers in the Kingdom of God, because when we are tired we can get confused and even frustrated. And to be frustrated with the work of God, with your service, can hinder it. It can hinder your ability to bear fruit and in short lack of rest can kill you spiritually.

So that being said, make the decision today to learn what rest is for yourself. Take time to rest, take time to understand the signs that you are running low, take time to get to know your source. It will be worth it.

Here are a couple extra scriptures that may help you in your search!

Isaiah 40:29-31

Matthew 11:28-29

Feel free to comment some others that we didn’t mention so that others may learn as well! <3