REST

Rest, who doesn’t love rest?  Remember when we were kids and we could take naps or sleep in as long as we wanted?  Those were the days! Unfortunately those days are gone for most of us.  We work, we travel, we run kids here and there.  Most of us have full time jobs, and upkeep on our homes and daily tasks with our families.  I know for me by the end of the day it’s all I can do to sit down for a few minutes with Jenn before I say I’m off to bed.  And so the cycle continues every day, every week, every month, every year…you get the picture.

But rest is not foreign to God.  Did you know He actually created rest for us?  There is a pattern to life and creation.  On the 7th day after creation God rested.  No matter where we turn in Scripture rest was always practiced and encouraged.

So how how are you doing taking care of yourself? Have you built rest and sabbath into your schedule? If not I encourage you to put a day on your calendar or even start with a half of a day where you schedule absolutely nothing.  Take that time to recharge and allow God to refresh your mind, emotions, body and soul.  It’s an important Biblical practice that we need in order to be the very best version of us.

Take some time to meditate on these verses about God’s rest for us.


Matthew 11:28-30
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.”

Exodus 33:14
And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Psalm 127:2
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Mark 6:31
And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

Matthew 11:29
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.

Psalm 37:7
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Psalm 4:8
In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Exodus 34:21
“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

Jeremiah 31:25
For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

Isaiah 40:28-31
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Genesis 2:3
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Romans 15:13
“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

Genesis 2:2-3
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Hebrews 4:9-11
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.