Rest Stop

If you’ve driven for a long distance on an interstate, chances are you’ve seen signs for rest stops and you’ve probably stopped at one before. They all seem to look the same: a cabin-style building that’s 40+ years old with a map behind plexiglass, which is next to the brochures for all the things you can do for the next 100 miles and the vending machine filled with enough food to get you there. Most importantly, these rest stops have restrooms and, odds are, that’s why you pulled your vehicle off the road in the first place. We can’t keep going down the same road endlessly. We need rest, whether that’s to sleep, to use the restroom, or to get food; our bodies were not created to just go, go, go—and yet sometimes it feels like that’s all we do. When we live this way, we can forget that we need to pull off at the rest stop every now and then.

“The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, ‘Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.’ He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.” (Mark 6:30-31)

Earlier, Jesus sent the 12 apostles out to cast out demons, heal the sick and tell everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn back to the Lord. Jesus knew this was not easy work, and He recognized their need to rest and eat. Jesus sees when we are tired and hungry and He knows when we need rest.

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’” (Matthew 11:28)

Jesus also knew when He needed rest—and not just physical rest, but spiritual rest for rejuvenation.

“But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.” (Luke 5:16)

“Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.” (Mark 1:35)

“After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.” (Matthew 14:23)

“One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night.” (Luke 6:12)

Even Jesus needed to rest from all of His work and take time to be alone with God in prayer. We won’t often neglect to sleep, we will less often neglect to eat, but sometimes the spiritual rest and rejuvenation that we need gets put on the back burner. When was the last time you went away to pray alone? Notice Jesus didn’t just go into a room and close the door, although that’s perfectly fine and indeed how we are instructed to pray, but that He withdrew to the wilderness and the mountains and to isolated places. We need rest stops along the way; we can’t keep going and going and going without stopping for physical and spiritual rejuvenation. Take some time this weekend to get away, a little further than a closed-door room, and spend some time resting in the Lord.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

—Redeemed