“My heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.” St. Augustine

It’s been a quiet day today. I came home after church feeling off the mark.  That’s not surprising considering all that’s transpired in the last two weeks. The adrenaline spike which kept me going through the move of the food bank and through the weeks since is gone, replaced by a bone -deep tiredness. I hate to admit it, but these” golden years” slow me down a lot. So, instead of socializing and doing one more thing after the morning service, I headed home.

The sun’s rays weaving through the trees bounced off my car windows like strobe lights and fed the dull head ache which has been building for days. I knew what I needed to do before a full blown migraine hit – quiet myself down. Relax. Rest. Be stilled.

The Bible is filled with Scriptures instructing humans to rest. In fact, “rest” was included at the outset in God’s plan for mankind. God begins and completes the entire work of Creation in the first chapter of Genesis. Then as the second chapter opens, it is with God’s resting :

“all the host of them were finished, and on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” Gen: 2:2

I was struck with the word “finished.”

“Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished.” Gen: 2:1

Who else but the amazing Creator, the Lord God Almighty, could do such a thing? Who but God could finish, complete, fill and fulfill the universe and all that is in it? Only God can create a work, complete a work and then rest in Himself. Then He gave us the seventh day, the Sabbath so that we too could rest from the curse of incessant laboring. As God rested, so should his children.

Why then is it almost impossible to find God’s intended rest? Why is the satisfaction of completing something so elusive?

Therein in lies the crux of what ails us. We can’t truly finish anything on our own. No matter how great or how small is the task we’ve been given, in reality the work’s never done 100%. Isn’t there always something else to do? Something to add? Something we’ve messed up on and need to fix? Something someone else messed up which we feel driven to fix? One second we feel satisfied but then a curve ball flies at us. We correct the glitch, make improvements but despite every attempt, we are never fully content at the end.  So much of our fragile self perceptions are based on what we do. But always there’s a thought pestering us like a fly buzzing in the ear: we can’t seem to complete anything and be done with it. We’re bound in shackles of restlessness.

The fall of man got in the way of us resting in God alone. Through sin, man is condemned to toil the earth and woman is cursed with discontent. Fallen away from God, the Source of our rest, humans are unable to find rest from earthly toil and weariness. Seeking to become little gods ourselves, often through our jobs,   positions and even ministries, we’re duped by the enemy’s outright lies : work like a fool and then rest later.   The infamous Nazi sign at the entrance of Auschwitz and other slave labor, death camps read: Arbeit Macht Frei. Work Will Set You Free. The sign is a chilling lie but also the perverted mark of our exhausted condition. The American Dream states the same principle in more lofty terms. Work hard. Get ahead. The more you do/strive/work, the quicker you’ll find happiness, success and wealth. The American Dream says nothing about rest.

It’s a challenge for goal driven people to see the spiritual causes of our   tiredness. Finally, when we’re ready to drop on our feet , God – and spiritual life – gets our attention. Within Genesis 2:1 lies the answer. Rest in God first and in Him alone for He is both Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all things, the Author and the Finisher. It really isn’t about us! Stubborn pride keeps us from a most humble admission: Lord, we can’t finish anything on our own. We need You. We need Your Divine Completion.

Jesus is the Father’s Divine Completion. As He was dying on the cross, He spoke, “It is finished.” The Son of God reiterated what His Father had ordained in the beginning. The creative work of salvation is done. It is finished. We can’t add one iota to it. What is required is to say Yes, accept Christ and Christ’s invitation for resting.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matt: 11

It is the only true  rest possible. Be still and know that I am God. This afternoon, I remained still for a little while. Like a child, my heart was quieted. I rested in Jesus alone, knowing I could. And amazingly, that earlier threatening migraine never showed up!

EAG