Rest

Truly my soul finds rest in God;
    my salvation comes from him.
 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
    he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Psalm 62:1-2 NIV

Rest: (v.) to stop using something so that it can be made strong again. 1

When I felt the Lord pressing on me to share on rest, I was initially stumped for words. I prayed, opened my laptop, read Psalm 62, prayed again. Admittedly, I eventually succumbed to a blank screen in my lap whilst scrolling through social media on my phone—a post of a friend with her 7 year-old son in the hospital with a fatal condition; another friend who shares about having to close her business and sell her home due to financial misfortune; a memorial photo, announcing another friend’s spouse has lost his battle against mental health.

How could any of these individuals find rest amongst this devastation? More so, how could I look any of them in the eye and offer them “rest” or “God’s peace” when I’ve not been in their shoes? Only because “hurt” is no forgiver of persons; it comes to all languages. Leaning on God’s Word in my times of darkness and hopelessness was all I had to find rest, which allowed me to persevere and, ultimately, share His faithfulness.

I imagine this is what David (author of Psalm 62) is emphasizing here. In addition to personal struggles, he was king for 40 years; think about what just four years of presidency does to a person in the US! This world will leave us exasperated and restless, yet David writes, “He is my fortress,” protection against attack.2 This almost guarantees that hard times will come. Spiritual attack will come. But even greater is God’s protection when we keep faith in His plan.

Rest will not always look like peaceful sleep. Rather, it may look like surrender of trying to control test results or forgiving an adversary. It may look like opening and diving into the Bible that has sat as a decoration or paperweight after years of church hurt. Whatever rest looks like for your soul, from the deepest part of my heart, I pray you find it and trust in the fortress of Christ’s love.

Taylor Newton

1.      "Rest." The Britannica Dictionary, 2023. Encyclopædia Britannica. 

2.      “Fortress.” The Britannica Dictionary, 2023. Encyclopædia Britannica.