Rest, Peace, and Being Still

For the most part, I don’t think people understood, or understand, why God rested, and then, in turn, commanded a day of rest. In the Old Testament, the prophets would express God’s lament over the people, that they were not gathering to God on the Sabbaths, but were, in fact, building themselves up. Sabbath was supposed to be a day of spending time with God and family, but people had made it in to something else. In Jesus’ day, they were all about how far one could travel, what constituted work, and following the Rule of Law when it came to “rest.” God said in the Old Testament, and Jesus said in the New, that He was our rest. He is the Lord of the Sabbath, and Sabbath was created for man, but man was not created for the Sabbath.

What does that mean, exactly? We were created to REST in Christ! That is why, again, and again, we’re called for peace (it’s not based on circumstances, but on the quiet of our Spirits when in the presence of God). Work existed before the Fall, and so, as people, we’re called to a cycle of work and rest. So let’s look at how we “rest” (and get it wrong): we fill our time with housework. We fill our time with activities. We fill our time with screens. We fill our time, period. We never spend time apart from our entertainments, and we don’t feel rested afterward.

God still says “Be still and know I am God.” It’s a habit we ought to learn to get back to: to shut everything off and be still before the God of the Universe, and to spend time in fellowship. Every day, we’re called to rest, and I struggle with that! So what shall I do? I’m going to shut down at the end of the day, and I am going to spend time in the presence of God. In the same way, I am going to rest in His presence on the day I rest, making it Holy to the Lord so that I can be in His presence.

Matthew 11:25-30

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Titus 2:11-14

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Hebrews 4:1-13

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

“As I swore in my wrath,

‘They shall not enter my rest,’”

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this passage he said,

“They shall not enter my rest.”

Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.”

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.