Get Some Rest: How Limits Bring a Spacious LifeSample

The Trust of Rest

In Matthew 8:23-27, we see how Jesus takes a nap. While out on the Sea of Galilee, the boat suddenly is swamped with waves! Water is crashing in on all sides. Jesus’ disciples bail out as much as they can, but their knees are wet. Though experienced fishermen, they have never been in a storm like this. The waves keep coming. The wind is whipping and the disciples feel done in. How is Jesus still sleeping? Overwhelmed with anxieties, they wake him up with staccato shouts. Jesus calms the waves and he calms their hearts. They realize his lordship in the boat.

How, they wonder, can he sleep?

It is from union with the Father that the whole life of Christ turns. Healing, wisdom, truth that cuts like a knife, and compassion that stops and notices, all only flow from Jesus’ utter union with the Father. This is what informs his sleep.

Jesus sleeps because he needs to, and he sleeps because he has nothing to prove.

When we choose sleep, we rest in our limitations as created beings, not as the powerful Creator. When we sleep, we admit our limits: we are needy creatures. We exist within the bookends of God’s own creation and care. Our joyful response is to sleep. The order of the universe is we receive first and we work in response to the rest and care we’ve been given. We do not work for rest or in order to earn our rest. We start with rest.

We accept that we are incapable of doing for ourselves the things sleep provides. Through sleep our brains function, our cells are repaired, we conserve energy, our muscles and hormones work better. But sleep is not simply useful in the increased health and productivity it provides—a means to further self-centered work—but it is a gift.

Sleep is a sort of mini-Sabbath where we accept our bodily limits and we embrace our humanity.

As you consider this example of rest, imagine what sort of trust Jesus has in his Father. Contrast this with his own disciples’ lack of trust. Can you trust God with your calendar and to-do list enough to sleep? Try taking a nap on a Sunday afternoon and paying attention to your nighttime habits as a declaration of trust in our good God.