Learning the art of being still is a complicated feat. We’ve been trained to work, work, work — sleep a little — then get up and work some more. We work at our jobs, we work in our homes, we work in our yards, and somehow we feel guilty when we finally sit down.

It’s as if we’ve been conditioned to believe we are lazy if we’re not constantly doing something. But God never intended for us to work ourselves to death. He made provisions for us to work and to rest.

“Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”
Genesis 2:3 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.2.3.NIV

If God Himself set aside a day of rest, then so should you. Don’t feel guilty when you choose to sit down and breathe. You need rest — rest for your body, rest for your mind, and rest for your spirit. Rest allows you to study the Word, to be renewed, and to be spiritually and mentally prepared to face another day.

When you work nonstop and never pause, you create space for the enemy to slip into your thoughts and wear down your spirit. I encourage you to rest and take all your worries — both real and imagined — to God. Our Father made provision for us, and He told us so in His Word.

You know that old saying, “the devil is in the details”? I’m not sure what it originally meant, but to me it means this: the enemy distracts us with the wrong things, and we forget to seek God first. But when we seek Him first, everything else falls into place.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.11.28.NIV

“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah 40:30–31 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.40.30-31.NIV

“I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.”
Psalm 116:1–2 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.116.1-2.NIV