More on Rest

I wrote yesterday about why rest is such a big deal to God and concluded that, for one thing, He wants us to have better lives. Today I want to explore further.

The other thing about rest is that it is, I believe, an activity of faith. I cannot rest if I am worried or afraid. This brings us deeper into rest. Now we are not talking about merely sitting with our feet up, we are talking about inner rest.

To truly rest, to relax way down into my soul, I must genuinely believe that Someone I trust completely has absolute control over everything which concerns me.

I cannot control and rest at the same time.

Unless I am very good at controlling. We can all think of someone – real or fictional – who has control over many things, but seems nevertheless to have a deep inner peace that speaks of restfulness. These people might not even be believers. Their rest is rooted in their confidence that they can handle whatever might arise.

Like the captain of the Titanic.

The rest may be genuine, but it is not permanent, and the more a person learns about God the more it becomes clear that the only rest which truly works, in the sense of refreshing and revitalizing a life, is that which is firmly rooted in Him.

I want that. I want the rest God wants for me: the rest which actually makes my life bigger and more invincible. I want the rest that comes, not from being on a safe ship, but from being part of the ocean.