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The Need of Rest
All of us are aware of the need to rest. We need food, we need water, and we need rest. So often our bodies themselves give us the signal that it is time to rest, and so often the signals are loud and clear. Much of the time, if we would listen to what our bodies tell us, we would get enough rest. Unfortunately, we so often are caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, of earning money, of running here and there, that we don’t listen to our own flesh. How many folk—struck down by sickness—have finally been forced to rest, and for a long time, too, who otherwise would have been fine had they listened to what their own bodies were telling them?
Sooner or later, we will rest—one way or another. The question is, Why not do it the best way possible?
What signals does your body send to you, telling you it’s time to slow down and rest? How well do you listen?
Every living creature needs time for rest to restore that which has been used. Consider the word restoration, which means “the act of returning to an original state or condition.” In adjective form it means a “reinvigorating medicine” or “anything that reinvigorates.”
“Sleep, nature’s sweet restorer, invigorates the tired body and prepares it for the next day’s duties.”—Ellen G. White, Child Guidance, p. 342.
We need to realize our limitations. We cannot do our work in our own strength. God promises grace to cope with our work. In regular rest, we permit the Lord to restore our bodies so we will awaken refreshed, ready to do His will.
Read Exodus 23:12. What reason is given there for rest?
The verb translated “refreshed” occurs as a verb only a few times in the Old Testament, yet it is based on a very common noun, often translated “soul” (Gen. 2:7), which has the meaning of “life” or “that which breathes.” In other words, it’s as if the word soul were made into a verb, and so the idea is that, through resting, we are getting more life, more breath, more “soul” as it were. Rest is therefore basic, even fundamental, to us as living humans, and by denying ourselves that needed rest, we are denying our basic humanity.
| MONDAY | May 10 |
All of us are aware of the need to rest. We need food, we need water, and we need rest. So often our bodies themselves give us the signal that it is time to rest, and so often the signals are loud and clear. Much of the time, if we would listen to what our bodies tell us, we would get enough rest. Unfortunately, we so often are caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, of earning money, of running here and there, that we don’t listen to our own flesh. How many folk—struck down by sickness—have finally been forced to rest, and for a long time, too, who otherwise would have been fine had they listened to what their own bodies were telling them?
Sooner or later, we will rest—one way or another. The question is, Why not do it the best way possible?
What signals does your body send to you, telling you it’s time to slow down and rest? How well do you listen?
Every living creature needs time for rest to restore that which has been used. Consider the word restoration, which means “the act of returning to an original state or condition.” In adjective form it means a “reinvigorating medicine” or “anything that reinvigorates.”
“Sleep, nature’s sweet restorer, invigorates the tired body and prepares it for the next day’s duties.”—Ellen G. White, Child Guidance, p. 342.
We need to realize our limitations. We cannot do our work in our own strength. God promises grace to cope with our work. In regular rest, we permit the Lord to restore our bodies so we will awaken refreshed, ready to do His will.
Read Exodus 23:12. What reason is given there for rest?
The verb translated “refreshed” occurs as a verb only a few times in the Old Testament, yet it is based on a very common noun, often translated “soul” (Gen. 2:7), which has the meaning of “life” or “that which breathes.” In other words, it’s as if the word soul were made into a verb, and so the idea is that, through resting, we are getting more life, more breath, more “soul” as it were. Rest is therefore basic, even fundamental, to us as living humans, and by denying ourselves that needed rest, we are denying our basic humanity.
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