Rest Time!

     When my kids were small and we were transitioning from the long naps of their baby days to no naps of school days, I instituted “Rest Time”. Rest time was essentially down time. They had to spend time in quiet, even if they didn’t sleep. No television, no noise, and most importantly, no mommy. That’s right. Rest time was not only for the sanity of the preschoolers, but also for mommy. I will never forget the days where I would get excited that rest time was coming, needing a time where no one was touching me, but inevitably, when I happily announced, “Rest Time”, my kids’ faces would fall and they would cry “No!!!! Mommy! I don’t need rest time! I want to play. I have things to do!”

    So what does rest time look like for you, now? How do you let down? What brings you refreshment? Have you thought about it lately? It seems like in today’s society we have conjured a wrong Idea about rest. God actually instituted rest time for us and he called it the Sabbath. It did not include self-indulgence or plopping down in front of mindless television programs. So why have we bought this cheap counterfeit of rest from the world? Does kicking back the world’s way displease God? It’s just a little music, it’s just a movie, it’s just a few glasses of wine, it’s just a cheesecake…  What does biblical rest look like? God defined rest for us when He created the heavens and the earth. For 6 days he labored. On the 7^th , He rested. Why? He wasn’t tired! The Lord of All Creation was NOT exhausted from all the creating. Psalm 121 tells us that God will not sleep or slumber. His rest is a wonderful example of a commandment yet to come. Exodus  20:8 gives us the 4^th commandment: to remember the Sabbath. Then in the New Testament, we get more understanding on biblical rest. Mark 2:27 says, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." God knew we needed rest! He created the Sabbath for us, not because He needed a break, but because WE need a rest in the Lord. We don’t deserve a rest! Not in the worldly sense of relaxation, but we NEED rest in the Lord. Relaxing in the world’s view is still us being at work. Our minds have been twisted to accept this as rest. But, God defined rest for us. He defined it as getting together with other people who love God and worshipping Him (Hebrews 4:10 and Hebrews 10:19-25). The Hebrew word for Sabbath is Shabbat, and it means to stop or cessation. When is the last time you just stopped before the Lord? (Psalm 46:10)

     Unfortunately, when it comes time to rest in the Lord, we tend to sound more like my children did upon the announcement of rest time. “NO! Not church! Not today!  I have too much to do! I want to play!” Remember, rest was created for you! We don’t work all week in the world so that we can rest on the weekend; we rest so that we can get out in the world and work. The Lord is the only place we can truly find rest. Once you have tasted His sweet soul rest, you can no longer settle for the world’s knock-off of rest! The Lord’s rest will satisfy our soul to peace, and the world’s rest will leave us weary and anxious. When will you return to His arms and the only rest that recharges us for the task at hand? Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. Psalm 116:7