“Can that wait for tomorrow?”
My husband has asked me this a lot lately. I’m so grateful for his wise and caring heart that continually brings me back to a fuller life with God.
My life has been full—the good kind of full, where I get to wear many hats I enjoy. I am a mom, wife, friend, endurance runner, worship team volunteer, and curriculum manager for a girls’ ministry—to name a few! Each of these is wholesome, good, and life-giving on its own. But together, they have often left me weary and empty.
These roles and routines are genuinely good, and they are easy to prioritize. Making room for rest—and for Jesus—is harder.
Sometimes I equate “rest” with “vacation.” I feel like I have to bank a certain number of hours to earn a break.
I think a lot of us have rewired ourselves this way. We do not feel deserving of rest. We do not receive it as what it is: a free gift from our Creator that draws us back to Him and prepares us for the work He has for us. Our plates are full—often of genuinely good things—but these overcrowded places have run us ragged and weary all the same.
In seasons like this, I turn to God’s Word to reorient my thinking about rest. There, He keeps showing me that we were not designed to pour from an empty cup; we were designed to thirst more for Jesus. And He will always provide the Living Water we need to fill us and bring us ever nearer to Himself. Weariness becomes not a sign of failure but an indication that we need more of Jesus.
Rest Is a Gift, Not Something You Earn
The idea of rest is interwoven throughout the entire Bible. Studying it, I keep finding that my concept of rest is far too narrow. It is not a short break I have to earn. It is much different—and much more—than that.
From the very beginning, God Himself modeled rest for us (Genesis 2:2–3). Then, at the giving of the Law, the Lord commanded that there be a day for rest, the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15). Forty years later, the Israelites entered the Promised Land and received the long-awaited rest God had promised them (Joshua 21:44). Later, Jesus came to earth and did not abolish but fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17). By trusting and following Jesus, we are invited into abundant life with Him. In Jesus’s atoning work, He has become our rest.
This rest, found only in Jesus, could never be experienced in the Sabbath alone. The writer of Hebrews speaks of the eternal Sabbath-rest found in Jesus: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9–11, NIV). Those who rest in God today are already tasting the rest that is coming. They rest in what He has done, is doing, and promises to do. Just as God rested after creating, now we rest because He promises to recreate and make all things new.
The wilderness generation did not believe God. Because they doubted and distrusted Him, they never entered the true rest the author of Hebrews speaks about. But those of us who trust in Jesus get to experience this life-giving, life-sustaining rest. We look forward to eternal rest with Him in heaven, and we get to presently enjoy His rest in life on earth.
Rest Brings Us to the Living Water Again and Again
A beautiful picture of this eternal rest experienced in Jesus is in the story of the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus was walking to Galilee from Judea, a distance of about eighty miles. On the way He passed through a Samaritan town called Sychar and, tired out, sat down by a well. Around noon, a Samaritan woman came to the well, and Jesus asked her for a drink.
The woman was taken aback. Jewish men did not speak to women that way in public, and Jews did not associate with Samaritans. She responded with, “How can you ask me for a drink?” (John 4:9, NIV, emphasis added). Jesus answered: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water,” (John 4:10, NIV). The woman did not understand. “Where can you get this living water?” she asked.
Jesus responded: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13–14, NIV).
Jesus went on to tell her “everything [she] ever did,” as she later testified to others (John 4:29, 39, NIV). She received Jesus as her Living Water and was forever changed. She even left her water jug behind—likely out of sheer excitement from being seen and known by the Messiah. But metaphorically, I like to think she also left behind the jug that could never sustain her. Having met Jesus, she no longer needed it. She was forever satisfied in Him.
The same is true for those of us who trust in Jesus. Nothing else can fill us, sustain us, or be our rest. Only Jesus can.
But to be sustained, we must live in relationship with Him.
Rest Means Staying Close to Jesus, Not Just a Day Off
Living in relationship with Jesus means remembering all He has done, is doing, and will do. Regardless of whether we believe we are required to keep a weekly day of rest, there is deep wisdom in a weekly pause from work to rest and enjoy God. This rest from our weekly routines and work can prepare us for the work He has planned for us for the next week.
But rest is much more than a weekly Sabbath for God’s people. Through Jesus, rest is experienced through a continual relationship with the One who sees, knows, and cares for you.
Practically, this rest looks like finding a sustainable rhythm that keeps bringing you back to Jesus, the Well of Life. When we stop returning to the Living Water, our cups run dry. We have less and less water to pour out to others.
So lean into your thirst for Him and seek Him. Seek Him through the Bible, prayer, and talking about Him.
No matter how full your schedule—corralling three kids, working overtime to finish a project—First, seek Him through reading your Bible, God’s Word. Some days that may look like reading a psalm for just a few minutes, and others it may look like spending an hour or more invested in God’s Word. Either way, seek Him through the Word.
Next, seek Him through prayer. This may look like spending your early waking hours on your knees, asking for His help and provision. This may also look like talking to Him in the car on the way to work or while you do dishes. Ask Him for wisdom about what is on your full plate—what might you set down in this season so you can better live in relationship with Him?
Finally, seek Him by talking about Him often. Tell others who Jesus is and what He is doing in your life—just like the Samaritan woman after experiencing the Living Water for the first time. Tell others about what He has done, is doing, and will do.
However full your schedule, as you seek the Living Water you will find your rest in Him. Continually prioritize and seek Him for your sustenance because He sees you and cares for you. He is your rest.
So, in response to my husband’s question—“Can that wait for tomorrow?”—yes, it can. I am thirsty for Jesus, and I need to seek Him and enjoy His rest today.
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Author Bio
Rachel Wierenga has a bachelor’s degree in integrated ministry studies from the Moody Bible Institute and is working toward her master of divinity degree at Denver Seminary. She serves as the Content and Curriculum Manager at GEMS Girls’ Clubs where she is passionate about teaching girls biblical truth and instilling in them that they are known, seen, and loved by God. Rachel has lived in Indiana, Illinois, Connecticut, and Colorado, but now loves calling Grand Rapids, Michigan her home. She enjoys being a mom, getting coffee with friends, writing music and leading worship with her husband, running marathons, hiking mountains, and delighting in God’s goodness in ordinary, everyday moments.
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