God’s Glory In Our Rest

Psalm 127:1–2

[1] Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. [2] It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep

One of the things we as elders do sometimes as we meet together is we take time to examine our lives before one another. This is based on Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching” (1 Tim 4:16). And recently we have been having discussions on how we are doing in the area of rest and how we are guarding ourselves from the constant trap of busyness that can often lead to spiritual, emotional, and physical burnout.

The Scriptures call us to be a people who understand rest. Because of the finished work of Christ—his work on the cross for us by which we are justified, forgiven, and told “It is finished!”—we of all people on the earth should be the people who most profoundly understand and practice the discipline of regular rest and refreshment. Aside from the clear benefits of rest to the body and the soul that the Scripture points us to over and over again, there’s actually more to it than just what we receive from rest. Our practice and enjoyment of rest, and our ability to shut off the anxious toil and busyness of our lives at regular intervals, is fundamentally a glory issue. God’s glory is at stake in our rest. And God receives glory when you rest.

Do you believe this? Or do you think like so many in our world today do, “Oh, if I don’t do this or that thing right now, then the world is going to fall apart. Oh, I don’t have time to get enough sleep, there’s too much to do. I don’t have time to slow down and turn off the phone or the computer.”

What the Psalmist here tells us is that our rest and our ability to rest as a people, proclaims something incredibly important about God to the world. So, an inability to slow down, or sleep, or step away from your work, tells the world, “Our God needs me to do these things for him, otherwise they won’t get done. God isn’t powerful enough. He isn’t wise enough to figure this out. It’s on my shoulders.” Though we might never utter such blasphemous things, many of our lives tell a different story.

The world teaches us to be anxious because the world beckons us to depend solely on ourselves, our own efforts, our own accomplishments, in order that we might potentially find rest at the end. But rest, of course, never comes. It constantly eludes those who give themselves over to anxious toil. God calls us to something different. We work and we labor in this world from rest, not for it. We begin with rest. We begin by acknowledging that we can do nothing apart from God. And then, we go about our day and do. And then afterward, we return to rest. He gives to his beloved sleep.

Is your soul anxious this morning? How are you sleeping lately? Do you find it difficult to shut off the emails and texts and work calls and to do lists and burdens that we carry each and every day? Hear the words of Jesus to you this morning, church:

[28] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)