Episode 19: Rest
Although we might feel like we have a pretty good idea of what rest is, there are some things that are important to note. For starters, physical rest...the kind of rest we talk about the most, is not necessarily sleeping. It can be, and certainly, sleep does affect your overall health especially physical health. And often when you are lacking in the other types of rest, a lack of sleep may be the first symptom indicating something is a miss. Unfortunately, I find that most articles, medical practitioners and books simply addresses sleep issues with a rundown of good sleeping habits. Like not reading in bed. Or having a night-time routine. All of this is of course useful, but what if our sleep issues have a deeper root cause? What if they are rooted in psychological, or emotional health or even spiritual health? Are we therefore without a solution? Think about it. Why is it so that someone can have a good solid 8 hours every night and still feel tired? Yes, there can be other physical factors at play. Like for me, it’s nasal allergies. Or maybe sleep apnea. But I think it’s sometimes your bodies way of saying that this is not the kind of rest you’re really craving. There may be another type of rest that you really need. I don’t know about you, but I find that I still have the best rest when I am on a holiday. Even though nothing has changed physically. That is because, during a non-vacation time, my brain isn’t really switched off just because I’m asleep.
Your digestive system needs a rest too. Maybe that’s what intolerances are really telling us. You may need a break from certain food sources.
Your muscles need a rest. That’s why they can tear and injure. This is what I mean when I say physical rest is not just sleeping.
There are other types of rest, such as PSYCHOLOGY or MENTAL REST. Your brain needs a break. And if you are a chronic overthinker, your brain needs a break, even more so than everyone else. If your job demands a high level of psychological engagement, especially if the nature of that psychological demand is not natural for you, you will be more psychologically tired. When you are learning, your brain needs more rest to digest what you have heard. Ever wondered why you can be in a training session all day, and largely be sitting there, eating mints and drinking coffee and be so ridiculously tired? I think that’s your brain’s way of saying you need a brain break. Back in 2018 Time Magazine did a great article about how thinking burns calories. We forget that every thought and every action we take actually costs some type of energy, it would have to, because every operation our body completes would require it. Your brain uses 20% of all the energy used by your body, just in normal functioning. Thinking alone accounts for 320 calories per day. More demanding cognitive tasks will require more energy.
Then there is EMOTIONAL REST. Our emotions have a limit. And they require replenishment. For example, handling conflict on a daily basis is very energy-sapping. Everybody has a different tolerance level of course, but conflict is an example of something that makes us emotionally tired. Especially if it is for an extended period of time. Suppressing your feelings for an extended period of time can make you tired. Fear and anxiety can make you tired. Ruminating over the past, and disillusionment can make you tired. Again every emotion you feel is a form of energy moving through your body. That sensation you feel streaming through your body when you suddenly get upset? That is literal energy coursing through your body.
And the thing to consider about emotions is that they also have an impact on other parts of your body. That is why often when in a stressed state, people will complain about having sore tum tums, or headaches.
Did you know that sustained adrenalin has an impact on your physical heart? See, if you ever needed the motivation to work on some of your emotional responses in life, these are some good reasons. It’s not just unpleasant, it has an effect on your overall body including emotional exhaustion.
Then, of course, there is SPIRITUAL TIREDNESS. Now when you are a Christian the intention is to be free of the tiredness caused by the absence of a spiritual connection with God the Father. In that way, spiritual tiredness is somewhat a relational problem, right? But it is also a sin problem. Let me explain. Because we are made in Gods image, our bodies have been designed with the intention of goodness. So sin and everything that it does is against our original nature, in terms of our design. But because of Adam and Eve, we have gained this sinful nature that inhabits a body that was NOT originally designed for it. We are now sinful beings somewhat trapped in a design that cannot handle that nature. Therefore, sin has a consequence to us personally, not just on our relationship with God.
So for instance, there is a cost to jealousy. The physical response to jealousy, for instance, could trigger your stress response which means an immediate increase in blood pressure, and an oversaturation of stress hormones. One study even found that attention and focus were affected by jealousy. Your body is not designed to handle the persistent onslaught of stress hormones or increased blood pressure. So long term and persistent jealousy will eventually have an effect on your body, and how you experience life. Bitterness, which no doubt stems from anger and unforgiveness, can literally make you ill. It can affect metabolism and immune response. Scientists have discovered this.
Now as believers this really shouldn’t surprise us. Because we are not compartmentalised organs that operate in isolation of each other. We are one cohesive unit. Every part of us affects all the other parts of us. Including what thoughts we have and what emotions we tend to overuse. This is where the fruits of the Spirit really makes a massive difference. Because these are the emotions that positively affect our bodies. It doesn’t mean that all other emotions are inherently bad. It just means that we ought to understand that emotions outside of the fruits of the Spirit are meant to be like the gas or fuel indicator on the dashboard of your car. It’s to alert you that something is going on, and you might need to take an emotional pitstop to explore it. You’re not supposed to just keep driving. This is why becoming a transforming believer, who is constantly growing in the fruits of the Spirit is critical to our overall health...not to mention the health of this world.
Now the truth is, so many of us believers aren’t necessarily pursuing a transformed inner life right? We are often guilty of pursuing a transformed lifestyle more than a transformed life. It is not common for believers to submit themselves to God and say “God change me”. In fact, we are often doing quite the opposite. We say “God change everyone else. Change the government. Change my husband. Change my wife. Change my child. Change my pay. Change my workplace.” It’s not that these aren’t sometimes unwarranted prayers, it’s just that it’s unlikely to be the solution for you all the time. Not when we are highly imperfect beings that have a tendency to be self-absorbed and have a habit of zero-ing into our own subjective perspective that maybe has 0.001% visual of the whole matter. This is why we can walk around each day, experiencing all these forms of unrest even though we have given our lives to God.
Religious activity can make you tired too. Jesus was the one who drew our attention to the fact that we can do all sorts of activities in the name of religion, and that this in no way contributes to the restfulness we are meant to experience because of our faith. He demonstrated this when He said
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” Matthew 11
There is one more form of rest that I’ve observed, that I can’t say I’ve seen any research on...so I need to be clear here that this is just my opinion. I think there is such a thing that I would call ‘RESPONSIBILITY FATIGUE’. And therefore the implication is, that we need ‘Responsibility Rest’. We have a tendency to be over-responsible, more than under-responsible in the Christian world. What is not healthy, is holding yourself responsible for everything all the time. And yet, the truth is, people, do feel like that. Either because they keep overcommitting and taking on more responsibilities when they clearly can’t. OR they are taking more responsibility for others than they ought to. For instance, it is not your responsibility to fix someone. By all means, pray, encourage, give. But don’t take responsibility. It is also not your responsibility to make someone feel better. I mean sometimes you do. And that’s a win. But their feelings are their responsibility. You can offer advice IF they want it. But ultimately you can’t really change how they feel anyway. Nobody’s feelings can be changed if they don’t want to, or aren’t ready to. The best you can do is ride out those feelings with them. Parents this one is a challenge. Because we want to try and help them, we try to convince our kids to look at things differently, and sometimes that can help, but it doesn’t always change things. Sometimes they just need to feel it. If you try and change how they feel, they’ll just resent you for not acknowledging their feelings. I’ll never forget the best advice I’ve ever heard from another Mother, Marge Simpson. When Lisa is feeling depressed about the state of the world and doesn’t seem to be able to get out of that headspace, and after trying to change Lisa to fix her feelings, she says “Lisa, honey, I was wrong. Always be yourself. If you want to be sad honey, be sad. We’ll ride it out with you. And when you get finished feeling sad, we’ll still be here”.
The reason this is such a big issue is that inherent in the nature of every responsibility are expectations. Whether you have them for yourself or other people have them for you, expectations are inherent within every role of responsibility. As a parent, as a spouse, as a leader, as a manager, as a Pastor, as a child, even as a friend. I mean the levels of responsibility vary greatly, but if you find yourself having some type of responsibility in every life scenario, with little reprieve… you’re going to drown in expectations. The point is, we all need spaces and places where we don’t have to be responsible for something or someone. Maybe this is what secret sins are really telling us. Maybe the real reason anyone pursues secret sin is that when you are responsible for so much and there is no respite from it, irresponsibility becomes the green grass on the other side. I don’t know, it’s just a thought.
So what do we learn from scripture about rest and restlessness? Firstly, when the Bible uses the word rest, it also is often NOT talking about sleep. But of course, the Bible also has some advice when it comes to sleep. So let’s check that out as well.
Ecclesiastes 5:3 says: “Too much activity gives you restless dreams”. You know those dreams that are disjointed dreams that give you a bad nights sleep? That’s what I would call a restless dream. Notice that overwork and busyness are the cause of such dreams. The NIV states it as “Too many cares” that contribute to this type of dream.
Leviticus 26:6 - “I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear.” This verse demonstrates a relationship between peace, which it is implying the peace that comes with being safe and sleeping. This is a recurring theme in scripture. We can see it in Psalm 4:8 which says: “In peace, I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.” Ezekiel 34:25 - “I will make a covenant of peace with my people and drive away the dangerous animals from the land. Then they will be able to camp safely in the wildest places and sleep in the woods without fear.” And it makes sense right. David especially would have been sleeping with the threat of King Saul finding Him, knowing that He wanted to kill him. And of course, they were often sharing land with dangerous hungry animals and armies that were intent on destruction and dispossession. So of course there is this relationship between sleep and safety. But also naturally, fear plays a part in this. Proverbs 3:24 - “You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly.” It’s the fear and lack of safety that causes sleep disturbance according to scripture. So for most of us, we don’t sleep with a constant and ever-present threat of danger. Especially if you live in Australia. Not the kind of danger that our Biblical ancestors experienced. But does this make what scripture says irrelevant? No, not at all. Safety doesn’t only pertain to physical threats. We have financial threats. The threats of uncertainty. Even just the fact that our future is often in the hands of an employer reminds us that we are not ultimately in control of our lives and therefore unable to be in control of our own safety. And this would have affected our ancestors too. They weren’t in control of the elements that could destroy their crops. But you get the idea. We have emotional threats. It is commonplace for so many to be incredibly lonely and isolated. And this might be one of the most challenging threats of all. For the most part, in the societies of our ancient ancestors, they were brought up in families and communities which formed a large part of their identity. That is why being banished was such a serious punishment. To be out there by yourself, without any kind of social support network is an incredibly unsafe situation. And in reality, it is still the case today. Our social fabric creates safety. And yet today, isolation even if it’s partial is common. Then of course there is the abuse that has gone on. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, rape...I am fairly certain many people experience persistent sleeplessness because these kinds of abuse have ingrained the belief that they are not safe. How could sleep not be affected by this, when your whole concept of safety has been thrown out?
Of course one of the most key passages to this conversation of rest is when God created the world. Genesis 2:2 tells us “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.” The word here for rested is sabat, the same word used when God is instigating the sabbath rest day with the Israelite people. Interestingly in that passage in Exodus, God also says so that you may be refreshed. And the word for refreshed also means ‘to breathe’ or ‘to take breath’. What an interesting way to describe rest right? So back to creation. The word sabat, not only means to cease or sit still. But interestingly it also means celebrating. There joy and pleasure attached to the 7th day when He rested. It wasn’t simply a ceasing of activity. Now that’s the obvious sign of rest. Then there is the fact that God intentionally prescribed only 1 thing for himself to do each day. We are often quick to regurgitate this statement, that God spoke the world into being. Which if you think about it, implies that this task of creation wasn’t exactly hard for Him to do. This wasn’t a laborious task. And yet He still didn’t overcommit himself in each day, in fact, there would have been a ceasing of activity within each day. And then of course he rested at the end of the whole process.
Earlier I mentioned Jesus statement in Matthew 11
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”
The religious leaders of that day had created so many rules for the people to follow, as a means of proving their holiness. But Jesus here claims to be a God who gives us rest. A spiritual rest. The encouragement here is not only to receive Him but to follow Him. In fact, it is in the following that we find the rest for our souls. The example of Jesus, Kingdom-mindedness, is all intended to lead us toward rest for our souls. And this is a vital component of salvation. When I was younger, I thought the greatest thing about salvation was that I would go to heaven one day. But now as an adult, the greatest thing I have seen about salvation is that it gives us permission to switch off the striving, the proving, and the demonstrating of my own goodness. That’s freedom. That’s real rest. This same sentiment is echoed in a famous passage about entering Gods rest...in Hebrews 4. Hebrews 4:3 says:
“Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,
“So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”
And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.
This passage references Psalm 95:11 where God is talking about the Promised Land. The Promised Land was supposed to be a place of rest for the Israelite people. By calling it a land of milk and honey, it was implying that their slavish labour against the arduous land would cease. It was good quality land, which meant that though they might have to still work...they would not need to strive to harvest good produce. Salvation is this for us, but even now we live in the tension of a Kingdom that hasn’t fully come. And so God’s rest is the time when not only will our strivings cease, but the Kingdom is fully actualised. This will be our place of final rest. Death is not our final rest! The ceasing of all activity through death is not our final rest. No, in this passage the author is explaining this powerful truth that... faith is what allows us to enter this final rest.
One last passage. In Galatians 6:9, Paul says “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” The word weary is used often in scriptural translations. In the Old Testament, this word tends to be used more to describe physical faintness or tiredness. But in the New Testament, and particularly in this verse, the Greek word here (which I’m not even gonna try to say) means to be faint of heart or to lose courage. It’s a brilliant validation of emotional tiredness. In fact, the word implies emotional exhaustion. Discouragement, disappointment, now have scriptural relevance. It doesn’t necessarily tell us what to do with it, but it’s an acknowledgement that it can happen.
Why do we need to talk about this?
So why would we need to talk about this topic? There might be a few things that have already come to the surface just in what I’ve said so far. But the point is that there are some Pink Elephants in this discussion about rest. Maybe these Pink Elephants aren’t so Pink, because there are many people out there that have written books about Busyness and Quitting the Hustle. We realise that there is something wrong.
The fact is, we in society, and this is equally as true in Christian communities, treat rest as though it is optional. We treat rest as though its purpose is to resource us for all the things we are doing. We look at God creating the world and we figure that He was allowed to rest because He had worked all week. Instead of recognising that rest was a choice for Him, and He delighted in that rest just as much as He delighted in the creation process.
We rest because we have to. Because our bodies demand it. Because we push ourselves mind, body and emotions to such a degree that we have no options. We often dismiss the signals our body is giving us that it needs rest. This is how burnout becomes a thing. It’s not just because we aren’t relying on God. When Elijah ran from Jezebel in 1 Kings 19, God’s first response was to give Him some food and drink TWICE, before Elijah travelled to a cave where God spoke to Him. At no point in the interaction did God chastise Elijah for not trusting Him, not relying on Him or for somehow falling short. Yes sometimes it is a journey in learning to rely on God, and sometimes we just need to look after the body.
And we also tend to have these subtle counterfeits of rest. Like entertainment, or indulgence. Entertainment can help us unwind, but it’s an externalised activity. It doesn’t necessarily input something into us the way rest inputs and rebuilds. And indulgence...people indulge every day, and it makes no difference to how rested they feel. Just ask anyone with a decent amount of money. In fact, Solomon once said that the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep in Ecclesiastes 5:12. Makes you wonder why we pursue wealth so much hey?
Why in the world would we neglect rest?
Because at the core of it, we don’t actually value or respect our bodies and being as much as our plans and goals. I have met so many people that are healthy. They exercise, they eat well. But a much smaller number rest well. They consider rest as something they’ll do when they get a chance to. When the work demands are not as significant. So why would we believe that our goals and plans are more important than our being unless we don’t value ourselves that greatly? The only types of mechanisms that we value the product of more than the contraption that produces them are appliances that are strictly designed for a purpose. We obviously value the food more than the microwave we heat it up in. There are so many things that the only reason we value them, is for the extent to which they fulfil their purpose. Fridges, mixers, computers, phones…and you know what they all have in common? They are machines. They are pieces of machinery. YOU AND I ARE NOT MACHINES. Our value is not based on what we can produce. We’ll come back to this shortly.
Your body has inbuilt mechanisms that ONLY function when you are resting. Sleep is as critical to learning as education. Your rest day, is just as critical as your exercise day, for building muscle. These are facts. So why would we not look after this critical aspect of health, unless we didn’t value ourselves?
Rest is seen as something that must be done, but it certainly does not evoke feelings of celebration unless you’re going to some resort. God, on the other hand, rested on the 7th day, as a celebration. A joyful activity. A moment to reflect and enjoy what He had done. There’s no indication He did it because He was tired. Or because He thought He deserved it. He rested because He enjoyed creation.
So maybe another reason why we don’t rest is that we aren’t in the habit of pausing at regular intervals to celebrate our wins? Or how God has been faithful to us? To take joy in what God has done in a week. How would that change our perspective? If a Sabbath is a form of celebration, it should never feel like something we have to do. It might even be the day we look forward to the most! To celebrate and rejoice that God gave us another week of life. That we have each other and Him. That we can breathe. It’s not necessarily because we ‘deserve’ it, although you probably do because you have been faithful! But it’s more so because He deserves it. And how amazing that the one thing He would like this day of rest to be marked by, besides not working, is a celebration, and joy. God had no other instruction when He instigated the Sabbath besides, doing no work. The Jewish people may have added rituals, but the original instruction was not prescriptive.
So why would we view and subconsciously behave as though our bodies are machines? It’s all due to this little cultural phenomenon called the Industrial Revolution. Now don’t worry, I got no intention of getting all political on you or historical. My only intention is to show the roots of what I would like to call the ‘Productivity sickness’.
Chances are the ‘Productivity sickness’ was bound to happen. If it wasn’t the Industrial Revolution that caused it, it would have been something else. But we simply need to understand that the way we view ourselves has come from our culture. A worldly culture that we Christians have just as much bought into as the next guy.
The goal of the Industrial Revolution was to mass-produce. Now obviously at the core of it, this would seem like a good thing. More produce would mean a greater capability of getting resources to those in need. Only the problem is, that since the industrial revolution, mass poverty and starvation still exist globally, whilst the middle class and upper class continue to overindulge on resources. So obviously the goal was not to eradicate poverty. And how could it be when in its earlier phases, workers would be exposed to extremely dangerous and unsafe circumstances for the sake of the output. Now I know it’s better now, for the most part. At least in modern societies. We have Compensation, Insurance, Industrial relations agreements, safety. So it certainly didn’t stay this way. But the long-lasting imprint left in the wake of the Industrial Revolution is this productivity mindset, where our value and our success is rooted in our ability to create output. In the Industrial Revolution, productivity was God. All solutions, all strategies, all ideas were designed with the purpose of pumping out as much volume as could possibly be achieved. People were simply a commodity to that end. Our bodies became machines. Now you tell me how we as believers act any different? Churches think their effectiveness is based on how many believers they can churn out, how many new people they can get through their 4 step program. And the more output, the better the leader you are. Business people are constantly being told the productivity is the key. The more business you can get the more people you can hire, the more money you can churn out. Parents work long hours so that they can get their kids through more extracurricular activities so that they can get more equipped to have more options, to get into a job where they will have to work extra-long hours and start the cycle all over again. Everything in our world keeps increasing, not decreasing. Even though the research suggests that the optimum number of hours for good health is 6, not 8. Oh and of course, most of us aren’t only working 8 hours, are we. We take our work home with us. We do it on weekends. We do it on our days off.
Why do we assume that productivity is the right way to measure ourselves or others? People die over productivity. They have drugs and self-medicate over this thing. And when they can’t produce what they used to, they lose their identity. And yet God does not measure us this way. I’m not saying that God doesn’t have things for us to do. I’m just saying that when the early church began, most people would have slept not long after the sun went down. They worked hard, but they didn’t generally have the option to work after dark. They didn’t feel guilty for resting. Certainly, Jesus didn’t. Because they didn’t have the Productivity sickness.
Have you ever really needed to rest, but you won’t let yourself sit down because you don’t think you deserve it yet? Not until you have done all your work right? What is with that? That used to be me. I would sit down and feel anxious because I felt like I should be doing something. But my body was literally telling me what it needs? Why did I dismiss it? Don’t I think that my body has good things to say? I never saw rest as a joyful thing or a form of celebration. How could I with the productivity mindset? Rest is in opposition to productivity! That’s why we struggle with it so much.
Now the productivity mindset certainly has a big impact on your experience of physical rest. But what about emotional, psychological, and spiritual? What do you think is going to happen to your brain when you have told yourself that your goal is to get more done, often in less time? What happens to your emotions when you are on such a tightly wound life? And what happens to your spiritual life when you are
We compromise rest every day. This wonderful and beautiful thing that God instigated with joy and celebration, to praise and rejoice over His daily faithfulness in both the little and the big things. We pass it by.
At the risk of this being another lengthy episode, I simply must talk about one more Pink Elephant. We have a tendency to bypass those signals inbuilt in our body that might want to tell us that we need emotional and/or psychological rest. But the advice I generally hear seeks only to address such matters at a surface level. Like learning to say no, delegating, getting organised or simplifying. Such things are great practical solutions, but it doesn’t get into your heart and soul to examine why you can’t say no, or why you can’t delegate. Or why you have put so much into your schedule that everything is falling apart. If only we went deeper, we might find that idolatry is causing us to behave this way. Maybe we’ve turned self-sufficiency into a God. Pride might be motivating our lack of delegation. Maybe we are still trying to convince others that we are worthy of love, and that motivates our desire to say yes. Maybe we complicate our lives because we are trying to fill some lack or emptiness. Maybe we still feel like we owe someone. All of this is a bandaid on a gaping wound. It might temporarily avail you, but that thing is always going to be under the surface. Worse yet, it’s a missed opportunity to see Gods grace operating in your life to grow you into a more secure and grounded believer.
Now let’s talk about Jesus for a bit, when it comes to rest. Jesus rested. You’ve heard it before! As far as I can see, He didn’t apologise for that. And He didn’t feel bad about that. He didn’t rest when it was convenient either. He was asleep on the boat when the disciples were freaking out over the storm.
Yeah, He was busy too. But never too busy to take a break when He wanted to. In fact, some of the greatest things happened in those breaks...like when He transfigured. Jesus just took a few of the lads for a walk up to a high mountain. They weren’t ministering to anyone. They weren’t going anywhere for some specific purpose. There’s no evidence that they were even praying. He just takes them up there, transfigures, and they come back down.
And what about productivity? Jesus as far as I can see had little to no interest in productivity and I’ll tell you why. Jesus had 3 years of ministry. That was all He was going to get. In fact, He only had 3 years of LIFE left. And yet none of that knowledge made Him eager to train more leaders or disciple more apostles. He had 12...that He focused on, and that was all. He wasn’t trying to heal as many people as He possibly could. Though I am sure His compassionate heart would have wanted to (which we see in Matthew 23:37). No. Output was not the measure of His ministry. That was not how He was rating himself.
If there was ever anything that the parable of the prodigal son could demonstrate for us, it’s the high value that our Father God puts on relationships. There is so much in this parable. But the Fathers excitement at the returning son, the no questions asked response of robes, rings and sandals. Show us something of how God receives us all. He receives us as children. The most important role He desires to have in our lives is that of a parent. He longs to forgive us, He doesn’t begrudgingly do so. There are so many things in this story that are not clear on the surface. One day my daughter took a really long time to get to the pick-up zone from school. I was panicking a little, I was worried. As soon as she got back to the car, the first thing I blurted out without an ounce of self-control was “Where have you been?” Is that not the cry of every parent, when we look for our kids and don’t know where they are. Yes, of course, we are happy they are back. But it’s not necessarily our first thought. The Father didn’t ask this once. It didn’t matter where He had been. He loved Him so much that He only cared to make up for the time they had lost.
There is nothing more important to God than having us as His children. That is the first most fundamental relationship by which He connects with us. There is nothing that you experience in your life, no responsibility, no ministry role, nothing...that will change that. This means, that in his presence is the one place, where there are no expectations other than for you to be His child. Now I’m not saying that there aren’t some other things that He might expect of you. But it’s probably a lot less than you think. And no subsequent expectations He has for you will ever replace the expectation of relating to Him as Father. The relationship is the number one priority. Always, every time. It’s us that needs to shake off everything else that clouds our judgement when we come into that place of His presence. It’s us that need to lay aside everything else we carry and recognise the safe place of being His child when we come in His presence. Because there is one thing that when those of us who have been parents can all agree on. When we are in our best headspace and our child approaches us, we have zero expectations of them. We just love being with them, hearing them, playing with them. I don’t expect her to meet any of my needs. Or to please me. I’m already pleased.
In the Fathers presence, is the one place where nothing is expected of you. You can just be. You can just rest. You can be a bratty child if you want to. Whatever. But that is the safest, most restful place you can be. There are no physical demands, no emotional demands, you can be absolutely yourself, no psychological demands - you don’t even have to say anything if you don’t want to...and there are definitely no spiritual demands. Because Jesus took that all away when He gave His life on the cross, that you might be righteous. You aren’t jumping through spiritual hoops anymore. He is your safe place. He is your rest.