The Remedy of Restlessness

I seldom listen to local radio. I’m not protesting anything, and I didn’t make an intentional decision to stop listening. It’s just that, when I’m driving, I tend to find myself listening to audiobooks or podcasts, on the phone, or enjoying the silence. I tell you this because I don’t know if what I heard last Friday night was typical for radio these days.

I was driving I-95 through Miami. The Greater Miami Area stretches 120 miles north to south, and 6.2 million people live in those 6137 square miles. Last Friday night, it seemed like most of them were on I-95, racing north as if fleeing a hurricane in stolen cars. With both hands on the wheel of someone else’s car, I had little opportunity to look at radio settings. So, I cranked up the alternative rock station already playing and went with the flow. It didn’t take long to realize that nearly every radio ad pitched a product or service as a solution for discontentment or restlessness. Spas, psychics, new cars, alcohol, jobs, neighborhoods, mental health services, restaurants, medications… - each presented as a remedy for various forms of restlessness.

Perhaps alternative rock appeals to the discontent and restless, and the marketers simply know their audience; or perhaps we live in one of the most restless societies in history. I’m thinking both are true. While one could point to the upheaval of the 1970’s as the pinnacle of American restlessness, I suspect our digital connectedness has injected an insidious restlessness into far more homes than the youthful anarchy of our past. Whether we are endlessly checking work email, friends’ messages, or social media, our inability to disengage from comparisons, competition, the longing for affirmation, productivity, or even gaming drains us of the opportunity for a peaceful sense of contentment. While the chase may promise fulfillment, it delivers only glimmers of satisfaction before dangling another bait to prompt us to continue.

Right now, some high achieving, hard-driving, Type-A leader is scratching his head and thinking, “He just included work emails and productivity in a list with social media and gaming.” That’s right. It’s not simply what we’re doing that makes us restless. It’s what we’re not doing. To rest means “to cease from.” We’re not stopping. We’re not ceasing from anything. We check our phones every few minutes and we’re right back at work, in the drama, comparing posts, or competing. Like greyhounds on a track, we’re chasing a rabbit we can never catch.

God gave us a rhythm of work and rest that remedies restlessness. But we’ve largely ignored or misunderstood it. God spent six days creating the world, then rested (ceased from his creative work) on the seventh day. Then, in the fourth of the Ten Commandments, he instructed us to embrace that same rhythm. But observing the Sabbath goes far beyond closing a business on Sunday, watching the NFL, or going fishing or shopping. It even goes beyond attending church services or spending time with our families.

There are two versions of the fourth commandment, offering us two opportunities to find the kind of rest that will refresh, restore, renew, and refuel us to engage another six days of labor, achievement, and productivity. In Exodus 20, we’re told that the Sabbath is set aside for us to notice and appreciate creation, as we thank and celebrate the Creator. In Deuteronomy 5, we’re told to remember our bondage before we were redeemed and to celebrate our Redeemer. Each focus – creation and redemption – should instill gratitude. But unlike most of what we spend our lives chasing, creation and redemption cannot be earned nor taken away from us. God is telling us that the secret to rest is reflecting on the two most extraordinary gifts we have ever received. Our weekly refocusing on the love and generosity of our Creator and Redeemer brings a gratitude, joy, and contentment that will carry us through our week. It teaches us that enough can never be measured with a number. You already know that. What happens when you strive to reach a numerical goal and you finally reach it? It’s never enough, at least not for long; and when we attain that prized possession, our energy and efforts shift to keeping what could easily be lost. Without observing the Sabbath, we are endlessly chasing rewards that cannot sustain our longings.

Properly observing the Sabbath, celebrating the Creator and our Redeemer, reminds us of what we have already been given, and invites us to pause, appreciate, give thanks, live, and love. It shifts our focus from the busyness of the world, our wants, our restlessness, our responsibilities, and obligations to lighten our burdens, find contentment, exhale, rest, and simply enjoy.

Intellectual ascent, merely studying religion, does not bring rest because it does not bring gratitude. Simply acknowledging Jesus Christ as the Son of God does not bring rest. Trusting him does. Trusting the One present in creation, through whom and by whom, all things were created, and the One who redeemed us from our sins brings rest. When our focus goes there, and our trust is dependent, gratitude follows. Gratitude for what we cannot lose changes everything. It leads to peace and contentment. When we return to our work with that peace and contentment, we are less flustered, frustrated, and fearful. A day of rest, the way God intended, leads to six days of being more aware, peaceful, purposeful, productive, powerful, joyful, and content. God’s rhythm of work and rest is the only sustainable remedy for restlessness.