Introduction
One repeated theme in Proverbs is that wisdom, this word that's mentioned almost 50 times in the book, essentially means to trust God. Wisdom means to trust God and His ways. Solomon consistently writes that trusting God is the antidote to worry because trusting Him will keep us from taking matters into our own hands. Trust is about turning to God’s way in life. The problem is the human inclination to put their trust in themselves above all others, including God. This being the danger, we can see why Solomon goes to such great lengths to tell us that wisdom is worth more than silver, gold, jewels, or anything else we might imagine because if we trust God, life makes sense.
The problem is us. As one old hymn declares, "I'm prone to wander." We despise the ordinary. You and I live in a day and age where if it's not extraordinary and big and loud and fast and famous, it's discarded. But so much of what God is going to accomplish in your life is going to take place quietly over a long period of time. We should never despise the ordinary because God has a long history of working in the ordinary. God is at work in normalcy, the ordinary. What's going to happen is God is going to shape us in the ordinary, and then there are going to be these moments where he breaks through, and it blows our minds. Those breakthroughs fuel gladness in the ordinary and have us pleading all the more for the extraordinary. This is the rhythm of the Christian life. Long periods of ordinary, then moments of extraordinary breakthroughs. But we often drift in those periods of ordinary. Why?
The drift of the human heart is never… Your heart, my heart… The drift of your and my heart is never toward the presence, power, and peace of God. It is always toward self-reliance. Always. If you just let go, if you un-anchor, you will not drift toward the presence, power, and peace of God. You will drift toward your own self-reliance. You're enough. You can make it happen. You can get it done. Trust yourself. This is the state of your heart. Your drift will always be toward you're enough. You can't help it. We're born broken, bent toward self-reliance. Why? Trust. At the foundational level, we don't want to trust God or anyone else other than ourselves. We want to believe we are enough: we're smart enough, good enough, we're strong enough. We are so broken that we don't trust God even with the most basic aspects of life. That's why we live in this constant state of being out of breath.
American culture often bad-mouths rest. We say taking a break undermines success, achievement, wealth, and progress. We are a nation that projects that “rest” is “laziness” in disguise. Rest is something of a taboo topic nowadays in our hustle culture. In modern-day thought, it is all about the hustle. Make as much, own as much, and take as much as you can. Hustle, hustle, hustle. We do not talk about rest in positive terms because rest gets in the way of our hustle. It's almost a badge of honor to be labeled a workaholic nowadays. We proudly say, "I'll rest when I'm … what?" Dead! Rest is for the lazy, the uninspired, and the weak. We actually say rest is for the dead.
Contrary to popular belief, scientific research has borne the truth of how God engineered the human body through proper rest to heal itself, reduce stress, boost creativity, enhance productivity, and improve decision-making. Rest is a game-changing element that people many around you are looking for but don't quite know or believe in it.
God, however, tells us that rest is needed. Why? Because He physically designed us that way. Well, why did He design us this way? Because rest is one of the many ways we learn life's most important message: Trust God."
Let's dig in.
Proverbs 3:21-26 (ESV - English Standard Version)
21 My son, do not lose sight of these—keep sound wisdom and discretion,
22 and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck.
23 Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble.
24 If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
25 Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes,
26 for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.
Scriptural Analysis
Verses 21 & 22
Every parent naturally desires his or her child to be safe, and the primary benefit of wisdom promised here is personal security and freedom from anxiety. The goal of wisdom teaching is the formation of a person of discernment. “Sound judgment.” The sense of this line is “They will give you a long life” or “Because of them, you will have a long life.” Verse 22 affirms again that the person who possesses true wisdom will be granted not only a long life but graciousness. Some modern translations avoid the two-line parallelism and say, for example, “They will give you a long and pleasant life.” Wisdom is the key to life—a full life now and eternal life in the future—because it is anchored in the fear and trust of the Lord.
Verse 23
Then marks verse 23 as a further consequence of possessing wisdom. Walk securely may be used figuratively to represent living with assurance and peace. Walk on your way is equivalent to “go on your way” or “go about your life. Securely means safely, without threat or danger. Your foot will not stumble: This line repeats and strengthens the idea expressed in the first line. Stumble means to trip while walking or running. The word is often used figuratively for making a moral false step or doing wrong. The message is the safety of trusting God's ways.
Verse 24
The verb rendered “lie down” means to lie down to rest or to sleep. Afraid refers to any kind of fright, threat, dread, or terror. Sleep will be sweet: Sweet is used in the sense of pleasant, peaceful sound. We may also say, for example, “You will sleep peacefully” or “You will have a pleasant night’s sleep.”
Wisdom will give you a good night’s sleep without worry (v. 24). You will sleep well because you haven’t done the foolish things that cause you to stay awake worrying. You won’t be afraid that you’ll get caught or be found out. You won’t have to lie awake thinking to yourself, What if she reads that e-mail? What if he runs into that person? Who else knows about this? How can I make sure this never gets out? Walking in wisdom and avoiding the foolishness of sin will keep your conscience clear and your mind free from worry. And if you get wisdom, you will ultimately be safe because God is the one who watches over you all day long (v. 26). God Almighty will be looking out for you! The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and he will keep those who trust Him.
Verses 25-26
Do not be afraid of sudden panic: Sudden describes an event that happens without warning. It comes as a complete surprise. The sense is sudden fear, fright, and terror. The nature of this fright is not stated, but it may be understood from the second line. Ruin renders a word that can mean a storm or disaster. Ruin of the wicked means the storms or disasters of life that destroys wicked people.
For the Lord will be your confidence: this verse is the reason for the encouragement given in verse 25. Confidence refers to trust, faith, and reliability. In the context of verses 24–26, confidence has a sense of courage, hope, and security in the presence of threatening conditions. We may translate, for example, “The Lord will give you courage,” or “The Lord will keep you safe.” He will keep your foot from being caught: The thought is that of the foot being caught in a trap or snare. “He will prevent you from falling into a trap.” All of this is to say that there's peace and safety in trusting God and His ways.
TODAY'S KEY TRUTH
The Wise Know That Rest is Found in Trusting God.
Here's the Reader's Digest for all these verses: "My son, do not lose sight of sound wisdom and discretion. My Son, trust God. Then your steps will be secure and your sleep restful." Safety and rest are about trusting God and His Ways.
So God, knowing the tendency of the human heart is to drift toward self-reliance, not to His presence, power, and peace, puts some brakes on the drift. He starts this back in Exodus 31. In verse 12. "And the Lord said to Moses, 'You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, "Above all…"'" Now listen, that's a pretty significant piece right there when God says "Above all." In the book of Exodus, there are a lot of laws, a lot of things concerning the Tabernacle, a lot of stuff concerning the presence and power of God, and what God just said to Moses is, "Teach the people of Israel this. Above all, so more important than anything else I've said is this," (What he's about to say). That's a pretty significant moment.
"Above all, you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between you and me throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you." What does it say about the nature and character of God that, above all, he says, "Take a day off"? Think about that for a second. You have this all God-prescribed activity, and then he goes, "Moses, you have to tell them above everything else I've just said they need …" He's very serious, as you're about to see. This thing is going to escalate.
"You need to take a day off and do nothing. You need to rest. Stop your toil, stop your busyness, and remember that I, the Lord, am your God." When I said it escalates, Exodus 31 verse 14 says, "You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death." Well, that took a hard turn. Like, "You're going to take a day off, or it will kill you." Something is going on here that's very, very serious to the heart of God.
How serious is this moment of rest to the Lord that the punishment for being disobedient could be death? Think about how counterintuitive that is for us as Westerners. Which one of you has ever had a boss who goes, "Hey, if I see you on Sunday, you're gone"? No, no. We get rewarded for busyness and long hours, and crazy activity. That's championed to our detriment. We've all known people who worked and stressed themselves to death.
God says, "Because you have a bent toward self-reliance and are prone to forget my goodness and grace, you're going to take a day a week and stop everything, and you're going to remember that I am the one who has delivered you. I am the one who fights for you. I am the one who provides for you, and I am the I am." He institutes the Sabbath, a day of rest.
What's interesting to note here is when God created the Sabbath. God is creating a nation that sits in the middle of the other great empires, and he's showing the world what it looks like to belong to the Creator. What he's doing is not only accomplishing in the hearts of his people sanctification and a break toward leaning and drifting toward self-reliance, but he's revealing to the other nations that he is the great provider and protector by letting his people just rest.
The Wise Know That Rest is Found in Trusting God.
God has, from the beginning, said rest is important. God rested on the seventh day of creation in Genesis 2. He didn’t do it because He was worn out or sleepy. He did it for our good, to model rest. Now, since we are under the new covenant, we don’t have to adhere to all the Old Testament rules about keeping the seventh day holy; our Sabbath doesn’t even have to be on one particular day. In fact, not only can we rest on one day of the week, but we are invited to rest in Jesus every day, at any time. The new covenant in Jesus means rest is always available to us if we would stop and completely trust Jesus. Trust that we don't have to be self-reliant anymore for anything.
At times, resting doesn’t even seem feasible. Sometimes, it may even seem intimidating. There’s too much going on, work is piling up, and the to-do list is never-ending; to rest would mean disaster. Trust me; I’ve been there many days. However, our rest is not dependent on our surroundings or the calendar anymore but on the one who gives us rest as a gift. We don’t have to be lounging on a spa chair in the Caribbean to rest or watching a TV show at the end of the day. We can rest in God regardless of our surroundings and environment. Jesus Cares for Us. Whatever you end up doing, know that Jesus is with you. He gave us rest as a gift, as a way to know His character, and as a way to worship Him, so we stop and meditate in His presence. Jesus loves you and cares for you deeply. Not only does He care for your spiritual health, but your physical and mental health too. Surrender to Him no matter how busy you are, and trust Him to give you the deep rest you need.
The Wise Know That Rest is Found in Trusting God.
Conclusion
At some point, we all collapse from living in the perpetual state of being “out of breath.” The hustle seems to never let us rest & breathe. You've got to be intentional about resting, or you will break. We've always been this way.
In the Bible, 1 Kings 19, Elijah said, "God, I'm so tired & frustrated! I just want to die!" God was like, "Here's some food. Why don't you have a nap?" So Elijah slept, ate, & decided things weren't so bad. He continued God’s plan after that & took a 40-day journey
If you’re struggling with thoughts like these, maybe the rest your soul needs is found in simply trusting God. I pray in Jesus’ name that you find the deep rest you need and the strength to be honest in your need of God. Your honesty, like Elijah’s, could be the next step toward healing and deep rest.
Can’t you just imagine Elijah putting his head down under that tree after a good long cry? By the way, crying can be a form of resting. Elijah reached the point where he realized he couldn't do it anymore on his power. He broke and said, "I can't make it by myself anymore." He turned to God. It’s simple how God provides and responds next in this story that's amazing. God gives Elijah a hot, yummy cake, a drink, and more time to nap. Wow. You were expecting some deep, theological answer, weren’t you? God said take a deep breath, have a snack, and you can rest because I've got this!
Two things from that story:
1. God knows exactly what you need & when.
2. Never underestimate the power of a nap & a snack.
The Wise Know That Rest is Found in Trusting God.
I've reached the point in life where I've come to realize that the chaos of our lives is not slowing down anytime soon. Don't you already get a sense of this? Don't you already start to go, "If I could just get through this season … if I could just tie off this project … if I could just get this done, then I can slow down and rest." Then you get it done, and ... there's a whole other season waiting for you on the other side. Life never stops. It's one chaotic phase of life after the next. We're constantly out of breath. The universe doesn't care that it's you're out of breath. Do you think the world is like, "Oh, you know what? Let's just cancel everything because this sister needs to breathe out"? Nobody cares. It's wave after wave after wave, and sometimes it feels like we're not going to make it.
It's why it's such good news that Jesus is our Sabbath rest in the midst of the chaos of life. The good news here is that Jesus is our Sabbath rest, that you and I have the opportunity to walk in His peace, presence, and power anytime we choose to. If we trust God to meet our needs and take care of us. Stop and focus on Jesus. His touch will give you rest.
One of my favorite stories about Jesus… He's walking through the synagogue, and there are hundreds of people around him, and he stops and said, "Who touched me?" His disciples are like, "Everyone. Like, 400 people did, Jesus. Why?" He's like, "No, no. I felt power leave me. Someone touched me who had a need, who was desperate." Then this woman who had been sick for decades said, "I did, Lord." Then there's this beautiful conversation around her healing. She reached out and trusted Jesus would be what she needed. Her body found rest and peace.
The Wise Know That Rest is Found in Trusting God.
If you are the "all go, no quit, hustle till you drop, I'll rest when I dead" type, the question becomes, what does that say about your trust in God? What does that say about believing He can and will work it out without your help?
Here's the good news about surviving the chaos of life: you can't do it. You can't save yourself, and you can't keep up with the chaotic pace of life; you can't do it all. That's good news because you can let that thought go. Breathe it out. You're free from that burden of trying to be self-reliant, all the while knowing deep down you can't make it on your own anyway. Trust God. Believe that Jesus can and will meet all your needs. Praise God; we're not enough. Praise God, Jesus is. He can and will take care of you if you trust Him.
The Wise Know That Rest is Found in Trusting God.