Rest For Our Restless Hearts - Finding Rest in a Restless World

“So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27, NLT)

“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NLT)

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28, NIV)

We live in a distracted age, and most of us feel it.

While smartphones and social media often get the blame, the human heart has been acquainted with an interior unrest long before the arrival of modernity. In our own time, distraction has become one of the signs of this deeper restlessness.

St. Augustine believed our hearts are restless because they were made for God. He suggested we long for the eternal because we were made in the imago Dei, the image of the eternal God (Genesis 1:27). This distinction is given to humanity alone. While we wrestle with purpose and destiny, our dog or cat sleeps peacefully beside us, untroubled by existential anxieties or concerns about life’s meaning.

Because we were made by and for God’s love, we hold an innate longing for that which lasts. Created from and returning to dust, we nevertheless sense that we were made for more than what passes away. We live in a temporal world where change is constant, yet we long for what abides.

God has set eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Since we were made for eternity, we sometimes catch glimpses of it here, like when time disappears in conversations or creative work. Or in motherhood when some days seem to last forever, yet the years fly by. We recognize it in moments so beautiful we wish we could hold on to them always, even as we know they are already passing. It’s why we document and preserve, take photos and save letters. Like Mary, we treasure these things and ponder them in our hearts.

And yet our desire for the eternal cannot be satisfied by anything within time itself. It can only be satisfied by God.

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you.” (Psalm 42:1, NIV).

In the opening to the Confessions Augustine wrote, “You have made us for Your sake, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” Ultimately, this longing is a gift from God, who set it within us, drawing us to Himself.

Christ knows our hearts and invites us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28, NIV).

Thoughts to Ponder

What restlessness do you sense in your life right now? Bring it to God. Ask Him to draw you into deeper rest and communion with Himself.