It seems counterintuitive, but you need rest to grow stronger. Exercise creates small tears in your muscles. As they heal, new muscle results. Without rest, though, your muscles don’t get a chance to fully recover. You can even overexercise: instead of getting stronger, it limits your growth and increases your risk of injury or burnout.
Part of ancient Israel’s journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land was learning to rest. In a way that was totally foreign to the world at that time, God commanded His people to take a break from their daily struggles and enjoy His provision for them. It takes discipline to rest like that: “On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the LORD said to Moses, ‘How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.’ So the people rested on the seventh day” (Exo. 16:27-30 ESV). Resting with God was the priority other activities were organized around – and it was a blessing.
As Christians, we get to experience an even greater rest: “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you…with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Col. 2:16-17). More than a ritual, Jesus makes experiencing true rest with God a reality. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” Jesus, lord of the Sabbath, invites (Matt. 11:28, cf. 12:8). While that will ultimately be realized when Jesus brings us into God’s presence for eternity, we must not take it for granted in the meantime. “Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it…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” (Heb. 4:1, 9-10).
Too often, we allow ourselves to become so busy that we fail to rest with the Lord. We work on Sunday mornings; or if we do make it to worship, we arrive after it starts, depart before it ends, or have our hearts and minds a million miles away. We pack our schedules with so many early meetings or late-night ballgames that we have no time – or, at least, energy – for family devotionals or bedtime prayers. Yet, it is a huge mistake to view time with God as another activity competing with everything else for our attention. He offers it to us as a chance to stop and breathe, refocusing ourselves on what matters most. Prioritizing rest with God allows us to heal from the small tears we’ve endured throughout the week and grow stronger.