Day 8 – Understanding the source of true rest
“Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.” Psalms 127:1-2 NLT
In our modern society, we strive to take care of ourselves. “Wellness” became a concept we plan our lives around. We work hard, we play hard, we analyse, evaluate, study, and dissect. We think up lofty notions and eloquent proverbs. We rationalize and deduce, we pontificate and indoctrinate. All in the name of “self-care”, but we tend to leave out a component. God. True rest – the kind that refreshes our souls and equips us for the storms of life – can come only from one place.
Solomon intimately knew the Source of true rest captured the essence in Psalm 127, specifically written for pilgrims making their way to the city of Jerusalem. All our striving will be in vain if our source does not spring forth from the Lord. We will find our rest only when we choose to hide ourselves in Him. He has not simply commanded us to rest, but invited us to lay our burdens on Him and accept the deep, satisfying, soul-renewing rest that only He gives. As we start to observe the Sabbath and God’s invitation to rest in Him, He will develop in us something precious to Him: a gentle and quiet spirit – a biblical quality.
Prayer: Father, teach us to lay our burdens of exhaustion down as we choose to observe the Sabbath and to hide in You, because only You are the source of true rest for our bodies, minds, and souls. Change the notions of worldly self-care into godly self-care. Amen.
