Too Busy for Rest

Too busy for rest.

Psalms 46:10
¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” (NIV)

Most of us have way too much on our plate. I am amazed at how hectic life has become for everyone. Even when people retire, they seem to exhaust themselves with other projects they were too busy to get done before retirement. We keep inventing new technology to allow us to be more productive, but we have not used these to find more time to rest. We use the efficiency of technology to try to do more. We are multi-tasking ourselves to death literally with all the stress and anxiety created by the hurried pace of life. But Jesus said, “Come to me and I will give you rest.”

Rest is found in Christ, but we must first come to Him. Coming to Him is not a matter of church attendance, listening to Christian radio, or even Bible study. We must come to Christ in spirit, in communion with Him through the Holy Spirit.

It is through this spiritual communion that we get to know God fully. We become very acquainted with the depth of His love, the glory of His majesty, and the unstoppable power of His purpose. Like any relationship, the more time we spend with someone, the better we know them.

To know God, as we learn in this passage, we must make ourselves still. How can we give God our attention when we are trying to do a thousand things at once? Intimate knowledge of God requires time without interruption. A spiritual encounter with God can only happen when we release all of those things that keep us from being still in His presence. We must learn to turn off our phones, get off social media, take our kids out of some of their activities, take a breath, and there we are able to be still in His presence.

There is a great deal of pressure for us to do, to accomplish, to be something. And we have fooled ourselves into thinking all this rushing around is accomplishing this for us. To become who God has created us to be, we don’t have to rush around all the time. To accomplish the work He has given us, we don’t have to run ourselves into the ground trying to be the perfect spouse, perfect parent, perfect bread-winner, or perfect Christian. God does all things through us as we know Him better. To do this, we must learn to be still.

Amen: Lord, help me to slow down and spend time with You more. Amen.