Sometimes we need a lower view of ourselves in ways we do not realize.
by R. Herbert
When we think of the biblical concept of rest, we probably think first of the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11) or Jesus’ words to His disciples: “Come . . . and rest a while” (Mark 6:31, ESV). But beyond commanding and encouraging this kind of rest (ceasing from activity), the Bible shows that our attitude — namely, our humility — affects our ability to rest.
If we think about it, both these scriptural admonitions to rest involve humility. We must be humble enough to accept God’s command to regularly take a break. We must also understand that we are not so important to the functioning of the world that we cannot step back when we need to.
Deep connection
There is actually a deep connection between rest and humility. We see it in the words of Jesus himself:
“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 11:28, 29).
Although most Christians know this scripture well, we often miss the relationship it makes between the deep, fulfilling rest Christ promises and the humility He says it is based on.
This principle is repeated often in the Scriptures. Sometimes we see it in the grand sweep of biblical stories. Job, for example, found rest and peace from his trials only after God humbled him (Job 42:16). We can also see the rest-humility relationship in small scriptural details, as when King David wrote, “My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself” (Psalm 131:1, 2).
Pride problem
Hannah Anderson, author of the book Humble Roots, clarifies the relationship between humility and rest: “[God] frees us from our burdens in the most unexpected way: He frees us by calling us to rely less on ourselves and more on Him. He frees us by calling us to humility.”
Relying solely on God is difficult for us to do, however.
Anderson shows us why.
Pride convinces us that we are stronger and more capable than we actually are. Pride convinces us that we must do and be more than we are able. And when we try, we find ourselves feeling, “thin, sort of stretched . . . like butter that has been scraped over too much bread.” (The Fellowship of the Ring)We begin to fall apart physically, emotionally, and spiritually for the simple reason that we are not existing as we were meant to exist.
Refusing to rest can indeed become a matter of pride — and pride is an unrelenting taskmaster. It is well defined as overestimating ourselves and underestimating God. Only as we learn to humbly put our own lives and concerns aside in rest do we acknowledge the supremacy of God and our dependence on Him.
Right perspective
Ultimately, humility is all about perspective. The nineteenth century clergyman and author Phillips Brooks once wrote, “The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatest greatness is.”
Rest not only gives us an opportunity to do that but also helps us do it successfully. Ceasing from activity creates pause to meditate on God and on ourselves. It is often to the degree we rest in our own smallness that we see God more clearly and reap the benefits of the humility He wants us to have.
Sometimes circumstances prevent or delay proper rest, of course. But we must not live this way regularly. Rather, we must see rest as a divinely mandated responsibility, as well as a gift that we ignore to our own hurt. If we live out our days in a lifestyle that avoids or diminishes rest, always struggling to increase some metric of our lives or never quite letting go of our own thoughts and pursuits, sooner or later we will experience the problems that Anderson describes in Humble Roots.
Hebrews 4:9 tells us, “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God.” Although the rest indicated in this verse is primarily a future one that will be fully realized in the kingdom of God, the principle also applies now. God gives abundant grace to the humble, and that grace includes the blessing of rest. We must remind ourselves that the will of God is not that we should work endlessly in this life and enjoy rest later. We should instead experience the rest and peace in this life that reflect the rest and peace we will have in eternity.
We humble ourselves by resting physically and spiritually. And, as Christ himself promised, as we learn humility, we find rest.
Obedience and Rest
The Bible shows us that full physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual rest is more than just the cessation of activity and a humble attitude. We must get our lives right with God through obedience — the true way to find rest. The prophet Jeremiah spoke of this to the people of his day: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16).
— R. Herbert
