Towards the end of last year, I felt the Lord calling me to rest. And if you are like me, you probably viewed the concept of rest as just sleep or inactivity, taking time to just be by yourself and do nothing, which didn’t make much sense to me. But, I read a passage in the book of Hebrews chapter 4:9–11 and it reads: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.”

This passage kind of stopped me in my tracks. God said that the Israelites did not enter His rest because their disobedience, disbelief in God’s ability to love them, lead them, and provide for them. So, I started to do more or less a study on the correlation between faith and rest. What I had realized is that the Lord was calling me to rest because of the way I was building my business, approaching prayer, and believing for success, relying mostly on my own efforts.

That the way I was running my business was not as purposeful as it should have been because once work becomes purposeful, it also becomes restful when I am moving into the flow of the Holy Spirit, into what God has ordained for my life. The Lord also showed me that obsession with success and financial freedom were signs of trauma and lack of trust in God’s ability to provide. That I had attached so much of my value in my work.

This legalistic striving is prevalent among us Christians, it is like we feel like the more they “do for God” the more He will bless us. This is not to say that we should not work diligently on our craft but to understand that God’s grace is unmerited He loved us while we were still sinners so there is no earning here just receiving and living in obedience and gratitude.

We live in a culture that values immediate results, I have made it a conscious effort to constantly remind myself that spiritual preparation, quiet reflection, and trust in God’s timing are vital for deeper encounters with the Lord. Since even on days when I was observing the Sabbath or taking a day off on Sundays, I just wouldn’t rest because there was so much unrest in my spirit, and there was so much unrest in my heart.

It was due to the many years of setbacks and heartbreaks and building some stuff and failing at even more stuff. I felt worn out in my spirit and I felt resentful towards God. The whole time, God was introducing me to grace. He was introducing me to His rest. He was introducing me to working purposefully and to follow His lead. He was teaching me to value faith over hustle because, as the Word says, that He gives to those He loves in their sleep.

This whole concept challenged me and made me go deeper and learn so many spiritual truths and the correlation with our current way of doing business, of acquiring material things. With that, I was able to do the inside work to see that I wasn’t fully surrendered to God, and in failing to do so I was not building with the right mindset. I also got introduced to the Hebrew word Chesed. Chesed is used more than 200 times in the Bible. It means God’s grace, unmerited favor, His loyal love, and His loving kindness.

In so many ways, it is said that God creating the heaven and the earth was an act of chesed, that creation was an act of benevolence on His part. He still has the same heart for us because in creating the Sabbath, He was teaching us to commune with Him and let us know that He has every aspect of our lives figured out. In the words of our Lord Jesus, to come away with Him and take on His easy yoke and find rest for our souls.

He was teaching me enjoy my work, and He was teaching me to rest in Him and to find our rhythm in His presence. He was teaching me that the greatest privilege and the greatest place to be is in His presence and to rest in that. More so, He was making me understand that after this life, there is even a bigger rest of eternal redemption and the privilege of His eternal presence where strivings cease. So that as I take on my work, and live through uncertainties, I can rest on His faithfulness, on His provision, and on the purpose that He has for my life. With that, I was able to just see the value of my work through the lens of real purpose and to not wear myself out.