Rest helps us shift our focus from created things back to the Creator God. It provides opportunity to pause and consider God. So, dear saint, rest. Rest and let it be a means through which you find rest in him.

Rest is an oft neglected aspect of life. We live in a fast-paced world, filled with expectations and obligations to varying degrees that demand our attention and effort. Life brings with it various commitments. School. Church. Work. Family. Relationships. Added to that, we live in an age obsessed with career advancement, normalising regularly working extra hours each week. Workaholism has morphed into an acceptable and even expected work ethic. With this pace of life, rest easily becomes secondary. Chances are, it has for you, too.

In such a world, it isn’t only helpful but crucial that we hear what God has to say about rest. After all, the Bible addresses it on many occasions. Using some of those below, I’m going to present a theology of rest.

1. The Biblical Pattern of Rest

We see God resting on the seventh day of creation (Genesis 2:3). After creating all things and calling them good, God rests.

Now, it is important to clarify something here. God doesn’t rest because he’s tired. He doesn’t need to rejuvenate his strength. He is God almighty, incapable of growing faint or weary (Isaiah 40:28). What, then, does it mean that he rested? The Hebrew word shabat used here mainly communicates the cessation of work. Thus, God doesn’t need a break. After blessing all that he’d made, the work of creating was complete.

It is on this basis that the Sabbath day is given as a day of rest (Exodus 20:8-11). Though we do not observe the Jewish Sabbath as it has found its fulfilment in Christ, God establishes a pattern and theology of rest. This is very much worth retaining, a day of rest. We see a rhythm of working six days and resting on the seventh. Though not for purposes of keeping the sabbath law, resting at least one out of the seven days a week is a good and biblical pattern.

2. An Acknowledgement of Our Finitude

Rest is an acknowledgement of our finiteness. Finiteness means that, naturally, as human beings, we have considerable limitations. There is only so much we can do. Our physical, mental, and emotional capacities are not unlimited. We are creatures. Finite.

You see, the only one who is infinite is our God. This is the Creator-creature distinction, a crucial piece of theology for thinking about rest. While we as creatures have limitations, God does not. We get tired, he is inexhaustible (Isaiah 40:28). While we need to replenish our strength, God never grows weak. You and I need sleep, yet God never sleeps (Psalm 121:4). While we can only obtain and retain a limited amount of knowledge, God knows all things (1 John 3:20). His understanding is beyond measure (Psalms 147:5). He is the only infinite one.

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