A Heart at RestSample

A Heart at Rest (Psalm 92)

Is it ever frustrating to you when someone preaches about taking a Sabbath, a day of rest? Personally, I get frustrated because I feel like as much as I’d like it to, “Sabbath” just doesn’t apply to me in this season. A large part of my week’s work consists of chasing around a toddler, changing diapers, nursing a baby, preparing meals, and those things simply can’t cease happening for a full 24 hours. The Bible tells us that God gave his people the Sabbath day as a gift of rest, but does this gift exclude parents of young kids? As a mom with littles, it can feel I am kept from the rest I so deeply long for.

On a day I was feeling especially weary, I came across Psalm 92. It’s titled “A Song for the Sabbath.” This Psalm’s message confronted me on why I was missing out on God’s gift of rest, and it gave me hope that Sabbath rest was actually something available to me now!

When God instituted the Sabbath, he instructed people to stop working on this day. But listen to the reason God gives to Moses, the leader of Israel, in Exodus 31:13, “Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.” It seems the purpose of ceasing from work was not merely to allow time for recharging. God’s people were to stop working to remind themselves that they could stop working; to remember that it was not they, but God, who was at work within and among them.

So many of us, especially as moms, carry the sense that if we stop, the world stops. If we don’t respond in the right way to a child’s emotional needs; if we don't keep our house in order; if we don’t keep up the schedule and calendar of each family member; if we’re not everything for everyone…it all falls apart. More than the work itself, this sense of overwhelming responsibility is what we truly need rest from! The gift of Sabbath is meant to remind us that we can stop. It is God, not us, who sustains us and the world.

When I think about taking a day of rest, I picture pausing to enjoy the work I’ve completed in the week past and to plan for my work in the week to come. But what struck me about Psalm 92 is that the psalmist doesn’t reflect on his work; he reflects on God’s work. “How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep!” he says in verse 5. The majority of this Psalm consists of praise offered to God for the work he has done:

God’s love shows up every morning.

God’s faithfulness sustains through every night.

God brings happiness and joy.

God’s enemies perish before him.

God imparts strength.

God gives fresh anointing for service to him.

God delivers victory.

Like the psalmist, when we intentionally take a moment away from our work to praise God’s work, we have the opportunity to see that it has been God empowering and sustaining us all along. He gave us the patience to respond to a tantrum. He gave us the wisdom to speak to our spouse. He gave us the strength to make it through the day after a sleepless night. And he will do it again! The truth that all does not depend on us but on God frees us from the burden we bear.

If we’re honest, there’s often a fear driving our compulsion to strive instead of trusting in the work of God. We overextend ourselves trying to do everything - maintain the house, be a present mom, keep the side business up and running - desperately trying to prove we’re worth something. We rush around trying to meet every need - of our children, spouses, friends - grasping for relational validation and affirmation. This restless striving is working for something Christ has already accomplished on the cross! For those who believe in him, Jesus removed our guilt and reconciled us to God with his death and resurrection. In Christ, we are given unconditional worth and infinite love. Our hearts need the weekly reminder of the finished work of Christ that releases us from our striving.

In the season of raising kids, some sort of parenting work is going to have to happen on a day of Sabbath. But what can we do practically to receive God’s gift of rest? We can perhaps slow our pace for 24 hours, plan ahead so as to minimize chores needed that day, and be intentional about letting go of our work as much as we’re able. Maybe while kids are sleeping or our spouse takes a turn watching them, we can take time to praise God for his work in our lives in the week that has passed. He is the one who upholds the world in his infinite power and goodness. And we can praise God for the finished work of the cross. There is nothing left to strive for. At the heart of Sabbath rest is repositioning ourselves to stand upon the sustaining and saving work of God.

This psalm tells us that those who put their trust in God are filled with an enduring vitality for the work before them. “The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,” (Psalm 92:12-14). Resting in God, we flourish, growing and bearing fruit, ever full of Christ’s renewing power.