What can disrupt or stop us from getting our needed rest?
Genesis 4:12“No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”
Deuteronomy 28:65-67“There among those nations you will find no peace or place to rest. And the Lord will cause your heart to tremble, your eyesight to fail, and your soul to despair. Your life will constantly hang in the balance. You will live night and day in fear, unsure if you will survive. In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were night!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ For you will be terrified by the awful horrors you see around you.”
Psalm 32:3-5When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. . . . Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
Isaiah 28:12God 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 30:15This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.”
Isaiah 48:22“But there is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.
Isaiah 57:20-21“Those who still reject me are like the restless sea, which is never still but continually churns up mud and dirt. There is no peace for the wicked,” says my God.
Jeremiah 6:16This is what the Lord says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’”
Habakkuk 2:5Wealth is treacherous, and the arrogant are never at rest. They open their mouths as wide as the grave, and like death, they are never satisfied. In their greed they have gathered up many nations and swallowed many peoples.
Hebrews 3:18-19To whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.
Hebrews 4:2, 6For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. . . . So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God.
Revelation 14:11The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name.”
Sin makes us restless and agitated. Sin clogs our lifeline to God, the source of rest and renewal.
Psalm 39:6We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it.
Ecclesiastes 2:23Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless.
Ecclesiastes 8:16In my search for wisdom and in my observation of people’s burdens here on earth, I discovered that there is ceaseless activity, day and night.
Mark 6:30-31The 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.
Luke 21:34“Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware.”
Work (even ministry service) and busyness can keep us from rest. We always have more to do. But if we never stop, we will never experience the rest we need to function effectively in the long run.
Lamentations 5:5Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are exhausted but are given no rest.
2 Corinthians 6:5We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food.
2 Corinthians 11:27I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.
Satan tries to keep us from rest. The more he can distract us with temptations and hardships, the more difficulty we will have relaxing and listening to God.
Job 3:26“I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes.”
Job 7:4-5“Lying in bed, I think, ‘When will it be morning?’ But the night drags on, and I toss till dawn. My body is covered with maggots and scabs. My skin breaks open, oozing with pus.”
Psalm 77:4You don’t let me sleep. I am too distressed even to pray!
Jeremiah 45:3“You have said, ‘I am overwhelmed with trouble! Haven’t I had enough pain already? And now the Lord has added more! I am worn out from sighing and can find no rest.’”
Daniel 6:18Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night.
Grief disrupts rest. Suffering and sorrow often distract us from the God who can heal us.
Job 30:17“At night my bones are filled with pain, which gnaws at me relentlessly.”
Sickness disrupts rest. When the body suffers, that’s almost all we think about.
2 Corinthians 2:13I had no peace of mind because my dear brother Titus hadn’t yet arrived with a report from you. So I said good-bye and went on to Macedonia to find him.
2 Corinthians 7:5When we arrived in Macedonia, there was no rest for us. We faced conflict from every direction, with battles on the outside and fear on the inside.
Anxiety disrupts rest. The combination of conflict and fear can rob us of sleep.
