Rest

District Diaries October 2024 Edition
by Marvin Penner

​My wife and I have a hanging in our bathroom that has Psalm 46:10 on it. It’s been there so long that we have had to replace the original with a new decoration that simply quotes, “Be still”. Sometimes it seems like the bathroom is the only place where I can put everything else aside for a moment and be still.

I’ve been working on a Pastoral Sabbatical policy for the Alberta Parkland District. In order to do this, I’ve had to get my head and heart around the place of rest in the work of discipleship. What I have been learning is that God’s word presents us with the truth that a good and godly life involves rhythm. There is a time and a place for work, but it should be balanced with rest. Yet many of us would describe ourselves as busy. We say this with a little pride, but also with a nod to the thought that it would be better if things were more in balance. How is it that we tilt out of balance towards the inability to rest? 

The revelation of God begins with rest, “…He rested from His work…” (Gen. 2:3) and ends with rest, “…they will rest from their labor…” (Rev. 14:13). But the ability for humans to find rest in God is not relegated only to those extremes. It is promised to the followers of Jesus in the here and now. He says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened [could we use the contemporary word “busy” here rather than weary and burdened], and I will give you rest.” (Mat. 11:28).

This discussion reminds me of the account of the manna from heaven in Exodus 16. If you remember the story, you know that the food God provided was miraculously out on the ground every morning. The people could collect only as much as they could eat that day. Those who did not trust God to provide again the next day would collect more than enough for one day and it would all go bad and be full of worms by the next day. Then on Friday God provided enough for two days so the people could rest on the 7th day. By that time, the people were used to having fresh food every day and some still did not trust God when he told them (through Moses) that the manna would keep overnight on Friday. They ended up with nothing to eat on Saturday. I like this example of trusting God and finding a healthy rhythm of work and rest because it’s on the kind of small scale that I encounter every week. It teaches me that there is a connection between my business and my struggle to trust God. Do I believe that God will be able to take care of things while I sleep and when I put down my work, or do I think I am so important that everything will fall apart if I rest?

I wonder how people would respond if I answered the question, “How are things?” with, restful, or balanced rather than with the most common answer, busy? Could I honestly answer that I am not weary and burdened, but restful? Could you? If my answer is, NO, I have a problem with trusting God. My prayer is, “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).