The REST of the Story

Scripture Verses that caught my attention today: Hebrews 4:9-10 So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; 10 for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors as God did from his.

Observation: Rest is good, but it is also usually temporary. I’m struck by how the author of Hebrews sees this rest as a goal of sorts. I’m not sure what to make of that.

Application: I have mixed feelings about rest. It seems to me that rest is essential, but it is also primarily for recovery and rejuvenation so that one can begin again. In resistance training, for example, it is recommended that muscles have roughly 48 hours to recover before another intense workout. The ratio of rest to work is huge—at least 48 to 1 or, in my case, more like 96 to 1 (my workouts are almost always less than 30 minutes).

I could probably offer all kinds of analogies based on the preceding paragraph, perhaps even suggesting 6 days of rest and one day of work rather than the other way around. But I’m not sure that’s really the plan for us either.

Frankly, I’m confused. The popular first story of creation found in Genesis 1 and the first part of chapter 2 (there’s another story of creation starting at the 4th verse of Genesis 2) lays out the six days of work and one day of rest theme. What’s less clear is what God does after that. From what I can tell, God has hardly been resting! Much like parenting children on our own, once they enter the world there is precious little resting! And the Scriptural witness asserts that God was very involved in the lives of the people (or wanted to be involved in the lives of the people even though they obviously didn’t always seem to want God as a part of their lives). In fact, I’m not sure God has rested since, though perhaps for the two days that followed Jesus saying “it is finished.”

Does that mean that in heaven we will be in eternal rest? Is this why we often say “rest in peace” or the more formal “rest eternal grant him/her O Lord” at funerals?

Honestly, I don’t know. I can only surmise that, at least in this life, a healthy balance between rest and work is good. Many of us don’t rest enough—and our performance sometimes suffers because of it. But it’s possible to rest too much as well, leaving one more lethargic than if one had worked all day. Finding the balance seems to be key. As Paul Harvey would say, “now you know the ‘rest’ of the story.”

Prayer: Lord, help us to find the balance between work and rest. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(readings today included: Hebrews 1-4)