Make Time for Rest

By: Joel Comiskey

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Over the years, I’ve noticed a resistance to taking a day off. The response goes like this, “Oh, a day off? Certainly not. I’m too busy doing God’s work. Vacations? No way, I have so much to do for the Lord.” When people say things like this, they assume that others will be impressed by their hard work and pat them on their back for not being lazy or slothful. And certainly, people who say such things don’t fall into the lazy category.

God loves rest and delights when his creation follows his eternal principles. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, we discover a God who wanted and even commanded his people to rest. He said to his people,

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8–11 ESV).

God wired his creation to only effectively work and produce six days a week (Genesis 2:2). He repeatedly tells his people to rest for their own good. Rather than restricting them, he knows they can’t live in victory when they’re tired and sluggish. Rest gives new strength.