Take No Rest

Isaiah's exhortation to the watchmen on Israel's walls resonates deeply with today's American culture of working tirelessly to achieve success for oneself.  Even the Christian seeking to glorify God rather than himself tends to live by the words "take no rest" from Isaiah 62:6.  But we often take this verse out of context.  At least, I know I do.  If we would only continue reading in verse 7, we would see that Isaiah says to "give [the Lord] no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth."  Alone, verse 6 seems to be a contradiction to the commandment that we are to take Sabbath rest regularly.  But God doesn't tell us to work endlessly.  In fact, what He does tell us to do without ceasing is pray, give thanks, and be joyful (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

I often find myself disgruntled because of the work that, in my mind, has been left to me, although it is usually work that can wait and that can easily be delegated at a more appropriate time.  I end up doing unnecessary work, which steals away my time for rest or more meaningful work.  I convince myself time and time again that the work that is left to me must be done, and things will fall apart if I fail to do my part—and "my part" is ever growing as I take on these self-imposed responsibilities.

Then one day, God gave me a wake-up call: "You are not God."

The world will not fall apart without me.  I am not the one holding the universe in his nail-pierced hands.  Two years ago, the Lord urged me to learn to "embrace the fade," a lesson to which He is recalling my attention in more ways than one, but that's a topic for another time.  The Lord is the one who works in me with all His energy, and He has no need of rest.  But I do.  I just finished reading a book by Louie Giglio entitled I am not, but I know I AM, the entire premise of which is that we are not God—if God's name is I AM, then my name is "I AM not."  He is God, I am "not God."

What a comfort to know that I am not God and don't have to try to be!  In my failures, life goes on.  God is capable in my weakness and in my absence.  Knowing this, He has decreed for me a regular time of rest called the Sabbath.  But Sabbath rest does not have to be relegated to a single day each week.  There is Sabbath rest to be had whenever my work ends and God's work carries on.  The Lord supplies my energy, yet even He demands that I break from my work in order to rest in His.  Good works have their proper time, as does holy rest.  To continue working in a time intended for rest is to say, "God, I know You have work to do, and I'm sorry to hold You up, but I'm not done with my work yet.  Let me finish up so that You can do what You need to."  As if my incomplete work could impede God's work in the slightest!  I need to remember who I am, and also who I AM not.

With this in mind, Isaiah 62 deserves to be revisited.  The key phrase is not, "take no rest," but rather, "give Him no rest."  We are only participants in God's work, which goes on even without us.  Rest is essential for life, and Sabbath rest is essential for eternal life, and God will not contradict His commands.  The way we are to "take no rest" is in our continual prayer.  While we work, we lift up our prayers through our work by striving toward what we ask, aligning our hearts and our actions with God's will.  Our "work" in Sabbath rest is to affirm the Lord's work through prayer and to trust that His grace is sufficient to accomplish all things in my absence.

I am still tempted to deny myself rest and to continue to work out of a sense of sovereign need, but I pray that He will teach me to take rest in His work and to devote myself to prayer as my tireless work (Colossians 4:2).