Sleep and rest are things we all talk about, but we all do differently and many of us don’t do well. (For example, I wrote this post late at night.) Sleep and rest are critical, and not just as a means for more desperate scrambling in work. Why?

Sleep every day.

Demands of life–school assignments or work deadlines or taxes–can temporarily crowd sleep out. Seasons of life–newborns in the home or an aging, aching body–make sleep elusive and interrupted. But eventually, even if not restful, sleep wins. God made us that way.

Sleep reminds us daily that we are limited. Our bodies falter, our memories fail, our health suffers, and our relationships feel the strain when we ignore our need for sleep. “How long will that project sit on my to-do list? Why does my list seem to only grow? How much am I accomplishing that matters?” Sleep requires daily humility to set the work aside, close your eyes, and be unconscious–a little practice of what death ultimately requires of you and proves to be true: the world runs fine without you.

Heard in a vacuum, this is heartless. We don’t have a vacuum.

• God, with unlimited power, rested after creation (Gen 2:2-3).
• I can sleep in peace because God is my security (Ps 4:8).
• My heart rests because God is my good Shepherd (Ps 23:1-3).
• Scrambling late and early is empty. God gives sleep (Ps 127:2).
• My help comes from God, who made heaven and earth, who never drowses or sleeps (Ps 121:1-4).
• God made the world with rhythms baked in: birth and death, sunrise and sunset, crying and laughing (Ecc 3:1-8).

For those whose sleeplessness is not chosen, work to cultivate the evening quiet for other forms of rest. I used nighttime feedings of my babies for reading and praying. Setting up a chair with a comfortable blanket and kindle made those seasons of unavoidably interrupted sleep sweet and restful in their own way. I prayed Psalm 119 for myself and each of my babies. I know others whose bodies waken them who use the interruption to pray and list out praises to God. (Pro tip from my amazing mom: steer your prayers towards trust and praise, not heaviness that precludes rest; perhaps pray for those requests while getting your 10K steps or scrubbing the dishes.) The Psalms brim with nighttime praise and prayer (Ps 4:4; 42:8-11; 63:5-8; 88:1; 119:62). When you redeem interrupted sleep in these ways, your nights might well surpass your days in value of work done.

Rest every week.

We like talking about rest. Rest is more glamorous than sleep, and it can be a handy way to necessitate your hobbies or feel entitled about some “me time”. God has bigger aims.

Our weekly rest is based on the example God set when resting after creation. Part of the covenant he made with Israel was that they rest every seventh day–a weekly reminder of their dependence on God, a tangible expression of belief that God himself would provide what their work would not (Ex 20:8-11).

*God himself would provide what their work could not.* This goes far beyond manna in the wilderness for the Israelites–that was a mere line drawing for the ultimate realtity. As critical as is the human need for physical provision, our ultimate need is for an answer to our problem of sin. That is what Jesus did. He took flesh and lived a perfect life; he died on a cross, taking the punishment for every sin; he rose from the grave, conquering sin and death and providing everlasting life to all who trust in him.

When believers meet every week to worship, we do acknowledge our dependence on God for his provision of our material needs. The world acknowledges the wisdom of a weekly rhythm of rest; going to church, listening to preaching that tells of sin and salvation, singing, and spending time with other people is not what they have in mind. But going to church every week is a tangible, practical acknowledgement that our ultimate need is provided. Yes, we can trust God for the provision of our material needs enough to set aside our work. Far beyond that, we can rest from spiritual efforts to accomplish what Christ has completed for us, what we could never do. Believers take a day each week not as a license for hobby time or leisure but to celebrate the final rest that has already been earned for us.

You will stop when you die.

This does not sound restful, but Christianity stares reality in the face: death is not the end. Life on this world is a prelude to everlasting life (Jn 5:24; Rom 8:23-25; 2 Cor 4:16-18; Heb 11:13-16), a practice run for what we will do for eternity. Those who have ignored their eternal need or worked to provide for it apart from Christ will face eternal judgment (Jn 3:18, 36; Rom 10:3-4). As long as there is life, there is hope–if you haven’t already, believe and trust in Jesus! For believers, death is just a sleep separating this life from the next. Just as a person can close her eyes, trusting to wake in the morning better than she goes to sleep, the believer can stare death in the face with confidence, knowing that Jesus has gone before into death itself (Heb 2:14-15), that he goes with us (Ps 23), and that we will indeed wake from death better than ever (Jn 11:25-26; 1 Cor 5:42-44; 15:51-53; Ph 3:20-21). Glorious hope!

Be careful you don’t let the world’s trashy, selfish understanding of rest crowd out the truest rest there is. God has baked patterns into our living that point beyond this life to him, to the ultimate rest we can celebrate forever, fully participating in life the way God originally designed it to be. For now, let your sleep at night and your worship each Sunday be tangible, worshipful expressions of your trust in God for your daily and your ultimate needs.