Rest is an active verb

We are called to rest in His presence

Photo by Sage Friedman on Unsplash.

by Xochitl Dixon

A debilitating headache kept me awake long enough to ring in the new year as I lay on the sofa with my service dog. My husband and caregiver snoozed in a nearby recliner, still healing from his second surgery in the past four months. I prayed for him and for relief from the chronic pain and fatigue caused by the decades-old spine injury that limited my mobility. As I inhaled deeply, the thought of a new year filled with suffering weighed heavily on me. How could I be so exhausted when I spent most of my days resting? I confessed my weariness and asked for help. In His loving kindness, the Holy Spirit answered my prayer by reminding me of the wooden sign I’d hung on the wall in my office. “Be still.” Desperate for a rekindled hope, I picked up my Bible. I turned to the familiar verse that inspired the artwork, Psalm 46:10.

Acknowledging the reality of suffering, the writer of Psalm 46 began his song of praise with a communal proclamation of God’s presence, power, and provision. He sang, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (v. 1). God wouldn’t just provide a sanctuary or meet the needs of His people from a limited stash. The one true God would shield and protect His chosen ones personally, as individuals, and as a community from the endless well of His infinite power. He would intimately engage with His beloved people and infuse them with His might by always being present.

During the most turbulent storms, God’s closeness would calm the hearts and minds of His people with courage and confidence in Him. God's beloved children would always have enough, whether they were feeling physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually drained. His promised proximity would infuse them with all they needed to persevere. The psalmist sang with conviction, “Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging” (vv. 2-3). He understood that God’s authority over all He made was as real as His authority over situations that felt too big, too hard, or too out of control.

The psalmist wrote his praise song centuries before Jesus left His throne in heaven to put on flesh. He couldn’t have known the victory believers in Jesus today often take for granted. However, as we read the Scriptures, we see that we are “the holy place where the Most High dwells” (v. 4), the ones in whom the Spirit of God resides. God is within us so we “will not fall” (v. 5). Though the nations go to war with Him and each other, God still reigns. He chose us and chose to be with us. When He “lifts his voice” on our behalf, His creation responds with submission (v. 6). God is with us as individuals and as a community of believers ̶ the Church. So, the most treacherous storms ̶ whether caused by nature, nations, or our naïve attempts to go our own way in life ̶ do not have the final word over us.

“The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (v. 7). This promise is enough to shake off the shackles of fear and instability so we can rest in His presence through circumstances. Accepting God as our refuge, we can cry out with the psalmist, “Come and see the works of the Lord” (v. 8). He reigns over the earth and everything in it, including the nations (v. 9). He has power and dominion over everything and everyone, even those who oppose or reject Him. His indwelling presence provides our strength, our peace, and our hope. We can exhale as we wander in the wilderness. We can sleep well when surrounded by strife. We can “be still,” which is more than a command to stop what we’re doing.

The Hebrew word for “still,” rāpâ, also means to “go limp, to give up, to refrain, to withdraw, and to wait” (The NIV Exhaustive Bible Concordance, p. 1474). Being still requires divine strength, endurance, and a faith anchored in the unerring and unchanging God-breathed words of Scripture. When we “know,” yādaˈ, God, we intimately recognize Him (The NIV Exhaustive Bible Concordance, p. 1406) by what He has revealed in His Word and by the ways He’s worked in and through our lives. Knowing His character increases our ability to trust Him. We can “go limp” and stop fighting Him. We can “give up” or “withdraw” and let God lead the way. We can stop struggling to survive and instead thrive in His presence, if only we choose to R.E.S.T. daily.

Reach for God’s Word.

Engage with God’s Spirit.

Submit to God’s authority.

Trust in God’s plan and pace.

All believers in Jesus can rest as we embrace the sweet truth of the psalmist’s final words, a repeated refrain in his song: “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (v. 11). As we abide in our loving God’s constant presence, we can experience rest as more than a physical state of doing nothing. We can recognize that rest is an active verb designed to rejuvenate God’s beloved image-bearers physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. We can experience rest as a Spirit-empowered act of worship, a faithful demonstration of trust in God’s character, and a declaration of who we serve, rely on, and believe. So, no matter what’s going on in our lives, no matter how busy our schedules are, and no matter how much our bodies allow us to do, we can be sure that God will always give us all we need to rest in Him.

Xochitl (So-Cheel) Dixon, contributing writer for Our Daily Bread Ministries, the best-selling God Hears Her compilations and blog, and Tyndale’s NLT Go Bible for Kids, is the author of Waiting for God: Trusting Him with the Answers to Your Prayers and the picture books, What Color is God’s Love?, Wonderfully, Marvelously Brown, and the 2021 ECPA Christian Book Awards Finalist, Different Like Me. She enjoys loving Jesus and people, spending time with her beautifully diverse family, raising disability awareness, advocating for belonging, and encouraging others with biblical teaching and Scripture-based prayers at www.xedixon.com.