On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.
Genesis 2:2-3
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
God has told his people, “Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest.” But they would not listen.
Isaiah 28:12
In music, there is just as much significance, dramatic effect and art in appropriately wielding silence as much as there is to sound. It takes a true master to know when to fill the air needs to be filled with notes and action, and when to completely clear the air of all sound. Think about any song where there are dramatic peaks and valleys of tension and resolution, and the role that the absence of sound plays into those moments. Most of us forget that silence can say just as much as sound.
In the same way, the natural cadence of work must be proceeded by periods of rest. Those who are driven to achieve often work themselves long and hard, busying themselves with tasks and work that make them feel effective. And there is a time and place for hard work! Yet, I am beginning to see how failing to break up periods of work with rest would be like a musician creating a song that lasted hours and days of solid, unending sounds without any silence. It would all become white noise. It’s in those moments of silence that you can process and understand what you’ve heard. Or like having a conversation with someone who doesn’t stop to take a breath and talks for minutes and hours on end. At some point the continuous stream of conversation just starts to pass the listener by, with no real comprehension anymore because their senses get overloaded.
In the world there are many people who would look to someone not working constantly and may use words like “lazy,” “unproductive,” and “inefficient” to describe this behavior; in the Kingdom of God rest is allowing space for reflecting, refueling and refreshing. God rested after the creation of the universe, He commanded provisions for the Israelites, their livestock and land to rest, and even Jesus would go by himself and rest for periods of time. For us to fail to rest is to fail to observe God-given commandments and I don’t want pride and some false sense of achievement (even achievement in building His kingdom!) to push me out of the will of God in this area. A physician (even a divine one!) can’t examine and treat a patient who refuses to lie still. Lord, help us to know when to work and when to rest, when to be active and when to be still, when to fill the air with sound and when to observe silence.