Learning to Enjoy Rest
I laid my limp, sleeping baby down in his crib. I eased my arm out from behind his head, freezing as his eyebrows furrowed. I held my breath, watching his belly move up and down and his face relax. I crept back to my bedroom and climbed into bed, cringing with each squeak of the springs.
If you’re a parent, you know how this story ends.
I barely touched my head to my pillow when a scream echoed from his room. It was 3:00 a.m. and the third time I had completed this process.
I went back to my baby and scooped him into my arms. His crying faded to a whimper. He stared up at me with bright blue eyes between drooping eyelids.
“Baby boy,” I whispered. “You’re tired; you need sleep.”
Despite how frustrating I find it when my babies resist sleep, I find myself following the same pattern. I work against my own sagging eyelids when I should be sleeping because the house “needs” to be dusted. I stay up late visiting with friends rather than submitting to my burning, tired eyes. I refuse help around the house because “I should be able to do this on my own.”
Perhaps you do the same. Do you resist the rest your body aches for because the floors must be scrubbed today? Do you say yes to yet another project, another event, even though your schedule already has you weary? Do you continue to say no to help with the housework or help with your children despite how much you crave a nap and some quiet time to yourself?
What if we stopped following the example of our children and instead obeyed God’s call to rest?
The Fight to Be Self-Sufficient
While our children fight sleep and rest out of fear of missing out, we often do so because of pride. If we let some of the housework go undone, people might think we can’t be a perfect housewife. If we ask for help with our children, people might think we aren’t the best parents. If we say no to volunteering at another event, people might think we’re unable to be a superstar churchgoer. If we ask a friend to cook a meal for us because we were overwhelmed with work, people might think we have limited energy and time. People might actually think we aren’t God-like!
In our pride, we want to glorify ourselves by doing everything on our own and in our own power. We want to be praised for our independence and self-sufficiency. If we’re dependent on someone else, then we’ll need to share the glory or give all the glory to them. We don’t want to admit weakness or defeat. We want to be seen as strong and capable, not as the needy human beings we are. So we go to war against our humanity—resisting rest—so we can seem powerful.
Created to Rest
We need rest because we were created to need it. God rested after creating the world not because he required it, but to set a pattern for the people he created—because he created them to need it.
“God rested after creating the world not because he required it, but to set a pattern for the people he created—because he created them to need it. ”
God made us incapable of working 24/7. He created us to require breaks, rest, and sleep. In those hours, we’re incapable of doing work, earning money, preparing food, protecting our families, or caring for our homes. Our drooping eyelids and heavy limbs force us to stop working and trust God for several hours at a time.
We were also created to need others. One person doesn’t hold every gift. One person doesn’t own every resource. In the ways we are weak and lacking, we must turn to others to fill those gaps with their strengths. The person who doesn’t do well with numbers needs the mathematician. The person who faints at the sight of blood needs doctors and nurses. The person who doesn’t know Greek and Hebrew needs the one who studied these ancient languages to translate God’s Word. This isn’t only true out in the world, but likewise in the church. As Paul wrote,
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. (1 Cor. 12:14–19)
Our neediness isn’t a disease of the fall—it’s part of God’s very good creation of mankind. When we resist rest, we work against God’s creation. We weren’t created to do it all on our own, but rather to bring glory to him by loving, leaning on, and serving one another.
Looking to Our Greater Rest
“Our neediness isn’t a disease of the fall—it’s part of God’s very good creation of mankind.”
This neediness for rest is meant to lift our gaze to our need for a greater rest. As the writer of Hebrews explained, the Sabbath (while holding practical implications) points to a better rest to come: eternal life (Heb. 4).
The gospel declares our neediness and our need for rest. But often we’re too entangled in and enthralled by sin to turn to God in obedience: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Rom. 3:10–12). No good works can earn us salvation; even the best of good works are disgusting rags (Isa. 64:6). We need Christ’s perfect obedience and his atoning work on the cross to save us. We are saved by resting our faith in him.
But even this faith or growth in holiness after salvation aren’t what keep us saved. As Spurgeon wrote,
What is belief? It is a simple trust—trusting upon Christ as God’s appointed Savior. It is trusting the Father and believing in his infinite love to us. This is a simple truth and yet one we need to remember, consider, and be assured of. We ought to pant after sanctification; we ought to be crying and sighing every day after conformity to Christ. But it is neither in our sanctification nor in our conformity that we find our rest. Our rest comes to us through believing in Jesus Christ. (Spurgeon Study Bible, p. 1645).
We don’t work for a righteous standing before God that comes with a key for heaven’s gates. We’re given Christ’s righteousness when we believe the gospel. It’s in his sacrifice and his righteousness that we rest eternally. This is the greater rest that our humanity and Sabbath practice look forward to.
Practical Ways to Practice Rest
So how do we rest? Now that we know our desperate need for it, how do we do it? How much rest is too much rest? Here are some practical ways we can submit to God’s call to rest:
Get 7–8 hours of sleep each night (as recommended by most healthcare professionals). This may mean setting a consistent bedtime.
Create a doable schedule that includes service to your family, service to your church, your responsibilities, and proper rest (reading Do More Better by Tim Challies will provide biblical guidance on this).
Plan the appropriate amount of time to do projects and tasks, rather than cramming them in at the last minute.
Follow the Sabbath.
Listen to your body when it is tired, sore, and strained.
Make time for fun activities and fellowship with your family and friends.
Leave room in your schedule for quiet times of Bible study, reading, listening to others, etc.
Ask for help when you need it, whether it’s childcare, a meal, or help on a project.
Set boundaries for screen time so work or restful times aren’t taken up by scrolling.
Say no when your schedule is full.
Resting isn’t selfish. It’s a humble submission to God’s purpose for us. Though it may not feel like it, creating space for rest when we need it glorifies God. As we depend on him, we declare him to be the only self-sufficient, all-powerful, never-resting God. Perhaps it’s time we grew up and stopped resisting rest like our babies and toddlers. Let’s admit our neediness, weariness, and weakness. Let’s rest in Christ and lean on his people as we were created to do.
Lara d’Entremont is a wife, mother, writer, and biblical counsellor. She desires to stir women to love God with their minds and hearts by equipping them with practical theology. You can find more of her writing at laradentremont.com.