All Things New: The Rhythm and the Requirement of Rest

By Dr. Dana D. Tyler www.danadtyler.com

You’re probably wondering what rest has to do with living the successful life that God intended for you. Especially when society tells us that we have to burn the midnight oil, work 25/8, give 1000% and burn the candle at both ends in order to be successful. You’ve heard sleep is for suckers. Why, our own Theresa Thomas, has been guilty of saying she’s not rich enough or thin enough to sleep in. And while I definitely believe in developing a great work ethic, I also believe we need to develop our rest ethic.

So often we are made to feel guilty for needing rest. How many wives, moms or caregivers do I have reading this article who feel guilty when you simply try to take some time to be alone. How many of us feel uncomfortable sitting and doing nothing? We actually convince ourselves that we are lazy if we take a day where we don’t clean the house, don’t work on our business, don’t volunteer for a ministry assignment: we just rest.

Well, let’s take a moment to define rest and see why God Himself established a rhythm and modeled the idea of rest for us. When we look at Genesis chapters one and two, we see the creation story.

God works for six days and on the seventh day He ceases from all His work. He blesses the seventh day and declares it to be holy or set aside for Him. The first word for rest, sabbat, literally means to stop, and the first depiction is God Himself stopping His task of creation. How exhausting could speaking the world into existence be for the God who does not sleep or slumber? Nevertheless, He ceased from His work. The other main Hebrew word for rest is nuakh which means to dwell or settle. This is not the same as clocking out from nine to five. This type of rest is like snuggling up for movie night with the ones you love. This is what God did with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He sabbat and came down to nuakh with them in the cool of the day. The whole idea of rest is for us to be fully present and attentive to and with God.

I think it’s important to note when God introduced the concept of rest to His people and why the Israelites and even believers today tend to mishandle the sabbath and the requirement for rest. Remember, Genesis is written by Moses during the time of the exodus. The Children of Israel have been enslaved for

430 years under the cruel Egyptians with no days off. They had no time to cease from work and certainly no time to be in God’s presence. What a miserable existence that had to have been! Is it any wonder Moses asked God to show him His glory? Is it any wonder when God used Moses to tell Pharaoh to release His people, it was so that they could worship Him? How intent is God’s love for His people that He would not allow them to remain in slavery separated from Him!

This concept of sabbath clearly points to Jesus. Salvation through Jesus is the ultimate rest whereby we never have to be separated from God again. From the beginning, God instituted the rhythm of rest until He could send the True Rest He intended for humanity. What a perfect expression of God’s love for us!

I think it’s interesting to note that the straw that broke the camel’s back of the religious leaders and led to Jesus’ crucifixion was the fact that Jesus healed on the sabbath. The Jewish leaders had actually turned keeping the sabbath into work, adding 39 categories of prohibited work and more than 600 commandments or mitzvot detailing what observing the sabbath looked like. At some point, there were more than 1500 ordinances for how to rest on the sabbath! It no longer became about sacred time with God. If we’re not careful, today’s church and ministry leaders can turn observing the sabbath into work and completely miss the intention of rest—ceasing from work and sitting with God.

Now, am I telling you not to serve in the kingdom? In the words of Joya Moore, “God, no!” But I am telling you as Dr. Matisa would, to make a better choice! Find the balance in your day and be intentional to refrain from work, scrolling IG or TikTok and actually sit with God. There’s a reason Jesus said every day is the sabbath. He wants to abide with us daily and download the strategies for navigating life with us. Life gets so busy. It’s easy to crowd our day with so much activity that we do not take time to take a purposeful pause to sit with God. But if we take time to honor the rhythm and the requirement of rest, we will find that He makes all things new!