“rest”
This word reverberated in my stomach and tied it in knots. I had come to the end of another week, exhausted, once again. Ministry work, household chores and school schedules toppled over juggling health challenges. Somewhere along the way, lines between ministry and family time were constantly crossed. Trying to be “sold out for Jesus” I had become “worn out for Jesus.” My strength had failed and my spiritual maturity had plateaued.
Unsurprisingly, in that season, I encountered many Church leaders wondering the same thing. Too many of us had fallen for the Teach. Serve. Work. Reward. Repeat cycle.
The outcome? I found myself constantly equating work with my worth, measuring my family life by how many dinners we went to and my spiritual life by how many mission trips I animated.
The only time I felt I had done enough was when I was running on empty.
During those mind-numbing months, I was confronted with the mess of my own devising. Clearly, I had made an idol of exhaustion. Clearly, it was time to reclaim Sabbath rest.
The Rhythm of (Sabbath) Rest
“Let there be light”, God spoke to the void in the beginning. And, God created rhythms (Genesis 1:12)
When Adam entered Eden, he stepped into the rhythm of day and night, seasons, and tides. Between those rhythms, God added one more - a seventh day of the week (Genesis 2:1–3), a pattern reflecting His own character, a rhythm Adam was called to imitate, take pleasure in and find fulfillment with.
It is alarming how our lives have become increasingly rhythm-less. In a culture that sees stillness as laziness and rest as sloth, our evenings and mornings have lost their meaning and our refusal to rest is leading to breakdowns in mental health, broken relationships, broken families, and substance abuse.
Is it any wonder why God gave us the Sabbath?
In ancient Israel, Sabbath began from sundown on Friday evening until sundown on Saturday evening. Unlike most of us, where day begins with our alarm clocks ripping the predawn darkness, for the Hebrews, day began in the night…. with God.
In this night, since the beginning, God spoke, worked, created, and renewed, while man slept. When man awoke, he participated in God’s creative work. He woke up in a world he did not make. He was given a salvation he did not earn.
Man does not rest from labor. Man, labors from rest.
In other words, Sabbath emerges from the very life and being of God. It is a testament of God’s covenant love. It is a reminder that we belong because we are already accepted. It is freedom from the incessant demands of technology and productivity. And, it is an invitation to expand our hearts for God’s inexhaustive presence so His Divine life can flood our souls, invigorate our spirits and empower us to witness to Eden’s lost world.
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Let My People Go
I had toiled more than 80 hours a week in that season. No boundaries. No rhythms. No rest. In my role as ministry leader, I felt compelled to be available to everyone. Every crisis was my crisis. Every complaint, my problem. What more, I was bombarded with the ever-surging, ever-present self-care trend, offering me a myriad of solutions ranging from therapeutic ads to lattes, teas, and oils.
But, outside God’s presence, my feeble attempts at ‘rest’ — whether that implied sleep-ins, days off or entertainment, felt like seeds planted in granite. I sowed, dug, and watered but the soil of my soul couldn’t hold the seeds.
I was looking for rest but reaping restlessness instead.
When the Hebrews were commanded to "observe" the Sabbath day (Deuteronomy 5:12), they knew what that meant. Being slaves for 400 years, they did not know what it was to rest. Hence, the command to take a day each week was a clarion call to live free, live higher, and to leave behind lesser loves.
Mark Buchanan, in his book The Rest of God writes, “In some ways, the whole point of the Exodus was Sabbath. Let my people go, became God’s rallying cry, that they might worship me. At the heart of liberty—of being let go—is worship. But at the heart of worship is rest.”
Only a worshiper can turn the work of his hands into an offering.
After regular meetings with my spiritual director, frequenting the confessional and returning to the heart of worship, I was able to take a step back and breathe a sigh of relief. By cutting back on ministry tasks, cultivating worship and introducing silence I was able to experience God’s invigorating rest.
Rest Has A Name
At the end of last year, I reflected on Matthew 11:28, ‘Come to me all who are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest.’ The word ‘rest’ was revelatory. I clung to it as my word for 2023.
I understood that in order to enter this rest, I must leave behind pride and self-reliance - this fierce tendency to control my burdens and meet everyone’s needs. I must acknowledge that I don’t need the tag of ‘good mom, wife, leader’ to earn God’s favor. My restlessness cannot be solved by a spa day or a sweet latte or an array of spiritual activities. It begins at soul-deep level, where my deepest ache and weariness abides…. this place where Jesus most desires to enter.
True rest flows not from a weekly pause, but from a Person – Jesus, who is our Rest. He is our living, saving, Seventh Day. The refreshment He provides isn’t dependent on our circumstances or our schedule but simply on our obedience to “come” to Him.
Sister, are you tired? Worn out?
“Come”, Jesus says. No one is excluded. He promises not to lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you; simply an opportunity to be refreshed and be tethered to him.
Rest Fosters Fruitful Relationships
So often, we subconsciously believe that serving others at the cost of our wellbeing is saintly. But that is not the Gospel. Jesus Himself went into the mountains and prayed alone. He never acted out of rhythm, was never controlled by busy schedules nor lived to serve people’s expectations.
How can I love others without recognizing God’s love for me? How can I see the needs of my community without admitting my own needs?
Before we can contribute to revival, we must first be refreshed.
Our busy schedules create satellite relationships. But when we truly rest, we intentionally make room for others. In keeping the Sabbath, we see ourselves for who we are, and we see ourselves as integrated parts of a community.
In our rest, we allow others to rest. In our rest, we foster fruitful relationships. In our rest, we allow marriages to flourish. In our rest, we teach our children that grace is real. In our rest, we remember that we do not cause the grain to grow, and that our greatest fulfillment does not come through the acquisition of material things, but only through abiding in Christ.
In all these years of ministry, I am yet to encounter a spiritually thriving person who accidentally keeps a Sabbath. Sabbath is intentional. It is commitment. It is a rhythm of Grace.
Sister, I need a story that plays out differently than work, reward, repeat. I need a story that speaks - Blessed. Fruitfulness. Rest.
What about you?
As we begin Lent tomorrow, my prayer for you is that Sabbath-rest becomes an undeniable reality this year, a refreshing gift waiting to be unwrapped, a confirmation that you are never alone and a testament of God’s abiding rest, especially during seasons of weariness.
Michelle Karen D’Silva is a regular contributor to the BIS blog and an itinerant Catholic speaker housed in the little peninsula of Qatar. With an immense passion for discipleship, her vision is to see young people bloom into radical future saints. And so she finds herself most at home engaging with these fire-starters over conversations coupled with karak and hummus. Whether preaching, writing, or training, she never fails to return to Pope Benedict XVI—her go-to guy—who constantly inspires her to live out the “Call to Greatness” as an empowered woman empowering women in ministry, wife to a doting hubby, and mama to two constantly hungry sheep. Find out more about her here. Read all of Michelle's posts here.
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