Rest

I will give you rest (Exodus 33:14).

Do you know how to rest? Many people don’t. When not at work or school, they fill every waking moment with activity. If they’re not playing sports, they’re shopping. If they’re not doing yard work, they’re busy fixing up the house. If they’re not running kids to some activity, they’re helping with a political action committee.

People get up early and go to bed late. And even when they do lie down, their thoughts are racing. They review the day’s events. They kick themselves over things that they didn’t get done. They worry about what’s on the schedule for tomorrow. Is it any surprise that many of us are sleep-deprived?

Vacations are supposed to be a time of relaxation. But travelers schedule so many activities for their trips that they come home more exhausted than they were before they left. Others use vacation time to tackle projects that have been put on the back burner. Such vacations may offer a change of routine, but they are hardly relaxing.

God designed us to work, but He also commands us to rest. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God (Exodus 20:9-10). God did not say, ‘on six days you will work at your job, and on the seventh day you will run your errands’. God commands us to take a day each week to stop hurrying from one thing to another. He wants us to take a breath and clear our minds. He wants us to make time for relationships—our relationship with Him and our relationships with each other. God’s law is all about relationships; Jesus summed it up this way: `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself' (Matthew 22:37-39). Loving relationships don’t just happen. You can’t build them out of quick phone calls made from the car or text messages sent from a meeting. Relationships need time and attention to grow and mature.

This is why God commands us to take regular breaks from all our chasing around. He wants us to spend time together in church and at home, time to listen and to share, to experience love and forgiveness and belonging. If you don’t slow down for these things, you’ll never find lasting happiness.