Why Don't You Rest?

In Isaiah 30, after God’s gracious invitation to rest, the people literally say, “No” (You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ - Isaiah 30:16). Why do you think that is? Let’s take some time to honestly assess ourselves and our tendency not to slow down, not to let our mind be quiet, not to take the foot off the pedal. Why do we do this?

Perhaps sometimes we live on the financial edge and working three jobs is required to survive - that’s a situation that God clearly has compassion on.

Sometimes, we don’t rest well simply because we lack of understanding - we were taught to work hard, not to have a balanced life.

Many times we don’t rest because we give in to distraction: we have built patterns/habits that occupy our minds even when we’re technically not working. Our phones, our TVs, our computers, etc. take up so much of our head space that we stop thinking about resting, or really about anything.

Perhaps there are deeper reservations about rest as well. Do we sometimes stay busy because we are scared to be alone in case God doesn’t speak? Or perhaps we don’t want to face loss is lurking in our lives? Or perhaps we don’t want to admit we are not in control?

The problem with not resting - regardless of the reason - is that there are consequences. This is what God points out - not by way of threat, but by way of gentle warning: “Therefore your pursuers will be swift!” (Isaiah 30:16). Those things that are chasing you - especially your anxious thoughts, your haunting losses, and your deepest fears - they just build up momentum when you don’t rest.

And the other consequence is that “you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill” (Isaiah 30:17). Can you feel the loneliness and isolation in those images?

Do some of those reasons for not resting resonate with you? How about some of the consequences? Talk with Jesus about whatever has been stirred up in you.