What does the Bible say about rest?
Getting no rest is one of the worst things in the world. How do I know you ask? I know because I used to struggle with insomnia, but God delivered me. It is extremely painful and it affects you in ways that people don’t understand. Satan wants you to be tired. He doesn’t want you to rest. Throughout the day I used to be always tired.
Satan would attack me at this time because I wouldn’t be able to think clearly. This is when I am most vulnerable to deception. He would constantly send words of discouragement and doubt my way.
When you are constantly living with no rest, it makes you tired physically and spiritually. It’s hard to fight against temptation, it’s easier to sin, it’s easier to dwell on those ungodly thoughts, and Satan knows that. We need sleep!
All these different gadgets and things available to us are increasing restlessness. That is why we have to separate from these things. The light from constantly surfing the internet, Instagram, etc. is harming us and it’s causing us to keep our mind active all through the night and early in the morning.
Some of you are struggling with ungodly thoughts, anxiety, depression, your body is tired in the day, you’re constantly discouraged, you’re gaining weight, you’re angry, your personality is changing, and the problem could be that you are not getting enough rest and you are going to sleep way too late. Pray for rest. It is essential in the life of a Christian.
Christian quotes about rest
“Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength… It is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less.” Charles Spurgeon
“Rest is a weapon given to us by God. The enemy hates it because he wants you to be stressed and occupied.”
“Rest! When we rest, we synchronize with God. When we rest, we walk in God’s nature. When we rest, we will experience God’s movement and His miracles.”
“God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.” Augustine
“In these times, God’s people must trust him for rest of body and soul.” David Wilkerson
“Rest is a matter of wisdom, not law.” Woodrow Kroll
“Give it to God and go to sleep.”
“No soul can be really at rest until it has given up all dependence on everything else and has been forced to depend on the Lord alone. As long as our expectation is from other things, nothing but disappointment awaits us.” Hannah Whitall Smith
“Sweet shall be your rest if your heart does not reproach you.” Thomas a Kempis
“Living for God begins with resting in Him.”
“He who cannot rest, cannot work; he who cannot let go, cannot hold on; he who cannot find footing, cannot go forward.” Harry Emerson Fosdick
The body was made to rest.
God knows the importance of rest.
You are harming your body by not getting enough rest. Some people ask questions like, “why am I so lazy, why do I feel fatigued after a meal, why do I feel tired and drowsy throughout the day?” Often the problem is that you have been abusing your body.
You have a terrible sleep schedule, you go to bed at 4:00 AM, you barely sleep, you overwork yourself, etc. It is going to catch up to you. You can fix this if you start fixing your sleep schedule and get 6 or more hours of sleep. Learn how to rest. God made the Sabbath rest for a reason. Now we are saved by grace and Jesus is our Sabbath, but having a day when we just relax and rest is beneficial.
1. Mark 2:27-28 Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”
2. Exodus 34:21 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.”
3. Exodus 23:12 “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.“
Rest is one of the main things we need to take care of our bodies.
4. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.
5. Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Even in ministry you need rest.
Some of you are overworking yourself even with doing God’s work in the ministry. You need rest to do the will of God.
6. Mark 6:31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
God rested in the Bible
Follow the example of God. The idea that getting quality rest means that you are lazy is folly. Even God rested.
7. Matthew 8:24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.
8. Genesis 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
9. Exodus 20:11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
10. Hebrews 4:9-10 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.
Rest is a gift from God.
11. Psalm 127:2 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.
12. James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
You can work hard, but don’t overwork yourself.
Many people think that if I don’t overwork myself, then I won’t be successful in anything I do. No! First, take your eyes off the worldly things. If God is in it He will make a way. We have to ask the Lord to bless the work of our hands. The work of God will not be advanced in the power of the flesh. Don’t you ever forget that. Get some rest which shows trust in God and allow God to work.
13. Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.
14. Ecclesiastes 5:12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.
15. Psalm 90:17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.
Get some rest
Getting rest shows trust in God and allow God to work. Trust in God and nothing else.
16. Psalm 62:1-2 Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
17. Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
18. Psalm 55:6 Oh, that I had wings like a dove; then I would fly away and rest!
19. Psalm 4:8 “When I lie down, I go to sleep in peace; you alone, O Lord, keep me perfectly safe.”
20. Psalm 3:5 “I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the LORD was watching over me.”
21. Proverbs 6:22 “When you walk about, they (the godly teachings of your parents) will guide you; When you sleep, they will keep watch over you; And when you awake, they will talk to you.”
22. Isaiah 26:4 “Trust in the LORD forever, because GOD the LORD is the Rock eternal.”
23. Isaiah 44:8 “Do not tremble or fear. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are My witnesses! Is there any God but Me? There is no other Rock; I know not one.”
Jesus promises rest for your soul
Whenever you are struggling with fear, anxiety, worry, spiritually burned out, etc. Jesus Christ promises you rest and refreshment.
24. Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
25. Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
26. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Animals are to rest as well.
27. Song of Solomon 1:7 Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends?
28. Jeremiah 33:12 “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: In this desolate place–without man or beast–and in all its cities there will once more be a grazing land where shepherds may rest flocks.
No rest is one of the ways that people will be tormented in Hell.
29. Revelation 14:11 “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
30. Isaiah 48:22 “There is no peace for the wicked,” says the LORD.
