Rest: The Freedom We Forgot We Needed

Q: So what keeps us from it?

Often, it’s the “good” things: - work - food - hobbies - social media - our children - our marriage - exercise - shopping - other people’s expectations

Q: How Do We Begin?

One simple, difficult word: No.

clay2crown
Jun 23
4 min read

Harriet Tubman once said, “I freed thousands of slaves, but I could have freed thousands more… if they had known they were slaves.”

At first glance, that statement feels impossible. How could someone not know they were enslaved? But the more you sit with her words, the more they reveal: slavery often hides beneath ignorance or denial. Freedom begins with recognition.

So what does that have to do with rest?

More than we think.

Many of us are bound — constrained, obligated, coerced — by things we never imagined could become taskmasters. And often, they’re good things. Gifts, even. But when good things begin to control us, when our flesh recoils at the idea of saying no, when we feel a pang of panic at the thought of stepping away… that’s the first sign something is off.

We may be living as unaware captives.

And that captivity is the very thing that keeps us from rest.

The Sabbath We Misunderstood

When we hear the word Sabbath, most of us think of a day — an Old Testament rule, a dusty tradition, something ancient and unnecessary. But Scripture paints a different picture.

Genesis 2:2 tells us:

“On the seventh day God completed His work… and He rested.”

At first glance, it sounds like God finished everything on day six and simply took a break on day seven. But a 20th-century Jewish rabbi, Abraham Heschel, noticed something deeper. He wrote:

“On the seventh day God completed His work… this seems to imply there was an act of creation on the seventh day.”

What was missing from the universe after six days?

Menuha — rest.

Not rest as in collapse or exhaustion. Not rest as in inactivity. But rest as something created, something positive, something essential.

Heschel described menuha as tranquility, serenity, peace, and repose — not the absence of work, but the presence of wholeness.

Rest wasn’t God taking a breather. Rest was God finishing creation.

Without rest, the universe was incomplete.

The Rest We Keep Running From

We tend to view Sabbath as stopping — stopping work, stopping activity, stopping productivity. But God intended Sabbath to be the creation of something: a state of being marked by peace, margin, and holy stillness.

So what keeps us from it?

Often, it’s the “good” things:

work
food
hobbies
social media
our children
our marriage
exercise
shopping
other people’s expectations

None of these are sinful. But any of them can become controlling. Any of them can keep us from the tranquility God created for us.

When we neglect rest, we limit our Christlikeness. We fill our lives with things that don’t matter in eternity. We even bring harm on ourselves, just as Jeremiah 25:7 warns.

Isaiah 30:15 says it plainly:

“Only in returning to Me and resting in Me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.”

But then comes the heartbreaking line: “But you would have none of it.”

The Lie of Busyness

Somewhere along the way, even inside the church, we began to believe that busier is better. That margin is laziness. That saying no is weakness. That rest is for people who can’t keep up.

But if the God of the universe — all-knowing, all-powerful, all-present — valued rest enough to weave it into creation, then rest is not weakness.

Rest is wisdom. Rest is obedience. Rest is freedom.

God is not embarrassed to say no. He is not ashamed to create margin. He is not afraid to pause.

Why are we?

A Gift We Keep Refusing

The Sabbath was meant to be a gift — a boundary that protected joy, a margin that made life livable, a rhythm that kept God at the center. But Israel struggled to appreciate it. By Jesus’ day, the religious leaders had buried the gift under rules and regulations until the purpose was lost.

Today, we’ve done the opposite. We’ve ignored the gift entirely.

Hebrews 4 reminds us that a rest still remains for the people of God. Not just a day, but a way of living — a posture of trust, a willingness to cease striving, a heart that refuses to be enslaved by anything less than God.

Verse 11 says:

“Let us make every effort to enter that rest…”

Rest takes effort. Margin takes intention. Sabbath takes courage.

Eugene Peterson described Sabbath as:

“Quieting the internal noise so we hear the still small voice of the Lord.”

How Do We Begin?

One simple, difficult word:

No.

The Hebrew word for Sabbath — Shabbat — means to cease, to stop, to pause. It is an active choice. A deliberate boundary.

Say no to the next favor. No to the next impulse purchase. No to the next piece of cake. No to the next playdate. No to the next scroll, the next comparison, the next pressure to keep up.

Say no to whatever holds you captive.

Say no so you can say yes to menuha — the tranquility, serenity, peace, and repose God created for you.

Galatians 5 reminds us that the Holy Spirit empowers self-control. We are not left to fight our flesh alone. We walk by the Spirit, and He strengthens us to choose freedom.