No Rest for the Wicked

On the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day. . . . Genesis 2:2

I do not sit still or rest well. I prefer to do, so, when I found myself in the dentist’s chair yesterday, unable to speak or move, I began writing today’s blog to occupy my mind. I had to do something. This is not all bad. I get a lot of stuff done, but this need to move is pretty annoying to friends and family who relax by sitting still. I relax by going.

I have found it necessary to make myself sit still in the morning and rest in God. As it does not come natural to me, I must make a disciplined, purposeful effort to be still and pray. Though my mind wanders constantly, I sit there every morning, wrestling my restlessness, focusing on the Father. Some days I am more successful than others.

God, in today’s passage, took the seventh day to rest, to teach us to rest. After expending our energies working, we must take regular quiet time to reconnect with God. Jesus, in the confines of the flesh, did the same, often withdrawing from the crowds to spend time alone with the Father (Luke 5:16).

When in active addiction, I simply could not do this. As I was deliberately running from God, I could not face him or find rest in Him. It is not that I did not try to relax. I did plenty of that while using. It was that I could not know calm or peace while I was deliberately disobeying God. There is no peace . . . for the wicked (Isaiah 57:21). The life of running from God is one of constant agitation.

God desires that I do His work and that I take regular rest from that work. I do not however, get to defy God, pursue destruction and enter His rest. If I find myself miserable and restless, I must abandon that which is causing my agitation. I must abandon self and purposefully enter into the rest of God.