I say the phrase “rest in God’s presence” quite often. I work with college students who are often stressed and overwhelmed by life and resting in God’s presence seems to be the obvious solution.
Rest is the main chunk of the word “restore”. Restore means “to return to a former condition, or to repair to an original condition”. We live in a time when everyone is telling us to move forward. To keep trudging along and to not pause long enough to think about how the world dictates our fast paced life, but scripture tells us quite the opposite.
Reading through scripture we see that the Lord calls us to rest. He created the Sabbath for our benefit, not as a law to follow but as a way to meet our needs (Mark 2:27).
I heard the quote (and I’m paraphrasing), “If you don’t know which direction to go, go back to the last thing that God told you”. This can help us when it comes to rest as well.
When we rest in God’s presence we are allowing Him to restore our hearts and bring us back to the last place we heard him or felt his presence. A lot of renewing can happen in times of rest, and as crazy as it sounds, doing nothing can actually help restore our hearts and connect with God.