Rest is not an option. Rest is not a luxury. Rest is not a suggestion. Rest is a commandment, a rule, a mandatory requirement in fulfilling and participating in God’s creation. God created and designed a world that functioned off of the premise that abundance and prosperity follows rest. The world around us was not designed to overwork and overproduce. Neither were we. In the same way we observe the planet deteriorating as a result of overuse, we also fall victim to deterioration as a result of overuse and overwork. The demands of our world today lead us into concluding that we must overwork in order to merely get by and survive. The world around us bullies us into a corner where we submit to the cruel and unjust reality that in order to keep up we must never stop. Since when do we live according to the promises and commandments of this world? If we are commanded to rest by the living God we are also promised by the same living God that our needs will be met in all circumstances. Therein lies the crux of the issue of rest in our modern world. It boils down to an issue of trust. Do you trust God enough to provide for and meet your needs when you rest from your work? Do you trust God enough to yield to his assessment of your physical, emotional and physical health and not your own? According to God rest is a requirement for life. In order to live we MUST rest. If we dismiss this instruction, we will die. The appetite of sin and the delusion of sin will strive to convince us that if we cease to work, we will die. The lie of Satan from the beginning was that it is utter foolishness to trust God and take him at his word. The lie from Satan establishes that we must be our own God, our own creator, our own healer, our own savior. However, in Jesus we see the promises of God fulfilled and the lies of the enemy defeated once and for all on the cross.
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
The sin within us resists rest. We resist it either out of fear of falling behind or fear of being too intimately attune to who we really are and what we really think when the busyness and work around us ceases. However, the spirit of the Lord casts out fear! There is no fear in Jesus. Your needs will be met and you will not be handed a stone when in need of bread. Your needs are known by our father in heaven long before we need them. Our father in heaven is a good father and he merely asks that we trust him and listen to his son, Jesus. Do this and rest. Do this and live.
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