Sabbath: The Cost of Rest

Image © Pacific Press

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: 2 Samuel 11:1-27, 2 Samuel 12:1-23, Genesis 3:1-8, 1 John 1:9.

Memory Text: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).

Many people seem desperate to find a little peace and quiet. They are willing to pay for it, too. In many big cities there are internet-free rooms, which can be rented by the hour. The rules are strict — no noise, no visitors. People are willing to pay to be able to sit quietly and just think or nap. There are sleep pods that can be rented in airports, or noise-reducing earphones are popular items. There are even canvas hoods, or collapsible privacy shields that you can buy to pull over your head and torso for a quick workplace break.

True rest also has a cost. While the spin doctors of the self-help media would like to make us believe that we can determine our own destiny and that rest is just a matter of choice and planning, yet, at least when we consider this honestly, we realize our inability to bring true rest to our hearts. In the fourth-century, Augustine put it succinctly in his famous Confessions (Book 1) as he considered God’s grace: “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.”

This week we look briefly into the life of the man after God’s own heart to find out how he discovered the true cost of God’s rest.