Get Away

Do any of these phrases sound familiar?

“I’m just exhausted.”

“I just can’t catch up.”

“If I could just get a break,”

“I don’t know if I can do this one more day,”

“I’m just too busy.”

Do you ever wonder how, as believers and followers of Jesus, our lives can look and feel so chaotic?

Here is a question for you: where do you go to find rest?

Do you curl up with a good book? Make s’mores around a crackling fire pit? Spend a sunny day at the beach? Catch up on your favorite show? Take a quick nap?

We all have different ways that we strive to get rest. One of my favorite ways is to be outside enjoying the warm sun; whether on my back porch on a crisp fall day or on the beach in the heat of summer, there is something about feeling the warm sun while hearing the sounds of nature all around – It’s like a hug from heaven.

Well, despite the utopia of those moments, they are impossible to replicate on a daily basis, especially amidst the chaos and stress of life. They are gifts for sure, but they can never be our main source of rest. I came across a little verse the other day that speaks to this reality. It reads, “The Spirit of the Lord gave them rest.” (Psalm 63) It is referring to the Israelites, but it is still applicable to us today.

In the Original Hebrew, the words, “Gave them rest,” are actually one word – NUWACH. It means – to give comfort, be quiet, cause to sit down, to grant rest, open space.

According to that definition, this rest is a gift. It is something given by God through his Spirit. Ponder that for a moment – A gift from God. It is not based on our circumstances, a good book, a show on TV, a vacation, or a quiet rainy day. Rest comes from the inside out. It comes from God’s Spirit; His Holy Spirit residing in all those who have chosen to surrender their lives and follow Jesus. We don’t “find it” or even “make it” happen. It is given to us. All those other things have the ability to slow down our pace, but they, in and of themselves, do not give us the true rest we crave. They cannot, because they are not the source of rest itself.

God reiterates this in Exodus 33:14, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

The Psalmist, talking to God, declares, “my soul finds rest in you alone” (Psalm 62:1).

Where do we first hear of this rest? In the first book of the Bible, it says of God, “on the seventh day he rested from all his work.” Rest is something even God enjoys. He worked and then He stopped to enjoy what He created.

Throughout the Bible, there is this constant invitation for us to join God in that rest. For the Israelites, that rest was one of the commandments; one of the top 10. It was not a command that demanded obedience for the purpose of control, but a command that through obedience reveals our purpose and frees us from the pressure to be in control.

It is called the Sabbath, and it gives us a rhythm that allows us to pause and enjoy our lives while remembering the source from which it comes.

The command to take a Sabbath is one that the God of the Bible gave His people so they could experience rest and peace amidst their crazy, broken world. I dare say, we all need a bit more of that today!

Most of us adhere without question to the last six of those commands. Each one giving reference as to how we are to relate to one another as a people. The first four however we often treat as negotiable. We treat them more like suggestions than commands. These first four have to do with how we are to relate to God.

1. 1. Don’t put gods before me
   2. Don’t make idols
   3. Don’t misuse the name of the Lord (Yehovah)
   4. Keep the Sabbath holy.

Here is how that last one actually reads in the Holman Christian Standard Bible:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: you are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work – you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates. The Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord bless the Sabbath day and declared it holy.” Exodus 20:1-11

When it comes to getting rest, I have lived like there’s a buffet table in front of me. I grab and grab and grab for fear that it’s not going to be there later. I impulsively try to claim moments while hearing a voice justifying my desire by saying, “you deserve it,” and yet, what is the result of such a mentality? I get tired, frustrated, and generally unsatisfied. The consequence of all this grabbing is rarely, if ever, restful. I can easily become resentful at those I perceive are prohibiting me from relaxing.

We may feel we can’t take a Sabbath because of all our responsibilities or because our schedule seems not to allow. We may also struggle with resentment towards those we perceive demand all our time, or maybe we beat ourselves up for not pausing to “be still” when we know we need to. I love that our God is always ready to meet us right where we are.

The truth is, true rest cannot come from any external circumstances. We can feel a temporal peace, but that peace will be quickly taken away by the next circumstance. True rest must come from the inside-out, from God’s Spirit inside of us. It’s something we have to see, accept, open, and enjoy.

It actually takes faith to experience God’s rest. It’s a process and a rhythm that we have to be taught by God to experience and enjoy. For the Israelites, it was a once-a-week requirement. At sundown, on Friday night, all work would cease, and they preceded to enjoy God in all his goodness without distraction until Saturday night. They got a “snow day” once a week.

I’m guessing, like us, the Israelites would have had to be in an ongoing conversation with God to know, amidst the different seasons of life, what that gift of rest was to look like. We can’t do it without Him. I know in this current season of parenting three young kids, working, maintaining a home, and staying connected in our marriage, it’s quite a challenge to plan and follow through with an actual weekly Sabbath. But I will tell you when we do, it is amazing. In fact, our kids notice we are more present, and that’s awesome!

Here are two things I have learned about Sabbath.

1. The Day of Preperation is no joke. It takes focused work to have everything ready by sundown so as to truly be able to not work for 24 hours.

2. To Sabbath rest is not the same as doing nothing or sitting mindlessly watching Netflix. It is a period of time in which we get to stop and ask God what He would like to do.

Sabbath is something we take. It is a rhythm; a pause we accept and embrace. Just like with any gift, to really enjoy it, we have to know how it works, read the directions, and be generous with it. As a bonus, the closer we are to the gift-giver, the more special and cherished that gift becomes.

In the Meanwhile.

Today, ask him to help you open that gift of rest. Ask him to give your heart a yearning to trust him enough to pause one 24-hour period a week and just enjoy him and what he wants to do with you. My guess is, it will look very similar to the list of where you go to experience rest in the first place (well, most of it)…He just wants to do it with you.

What’s beautiful is when we accept the invitation into God’s rest, He reads with us, plays with us, gardens with us, rides with us, and for some; He rests in the sun with us.