Time - The Kairos Rest
Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
Time has a rhythm. A cadence. This is the way God designed it so that we, His creation, can enjoy it. We cannot enjoy it if we are merely observing Chronos time slipping away, or seeing it as something we fit our activities into. To find our joy in the cadences of time, we need to submit to its rhythm. Within this rhythm, God has intentionally and graciously included rest. This was His intention that He demonstrated to us when He created the heavens and the earth. When God’s work of creating the universe was completed, he rested from His work (Genesis 2:1-3). He rested because He knew that it was good (Genesis 1).
Our lives are filled with doing. With work. Whether it’s working for a boss, building our own business, working at home doing household chores, working to ensure that our family’s needs are taken care of, filling our social calendars, or working out at the gym or elsewhere. It seems as if our days are stuck in an endless cycle of performing to achieve something which we feel is never completed or never good enough. When we understand that rest is the Kairos time that God has built into the cadence of time, we will desire it. Kairos is an opportune time. An appointed time. A time when God is able to shift things in our mindset because we are in a place of rest. Kairos time is really unhurried time that God has ordained for us because He is Lord over time and also over our time of rest (Matthew 12:8).
Elevating “Seizing The Day” Above God’s Ordained Rest
I have always struggled with yielding to God’s rest because I see time as something that shouldn’t be wasted. I elevated the idea of” seizing the day” above the Kairos rest that God has ordained for me. Until the day God interrupted my thoughts while I was thinking about how I could cram as much as possible into the coming days, so that we could see more growth in a particular area of our business. He simply said to me, “Why are you in a hurry? I am not in a hurry.” This opened my eyes to the fact that no matter how hard I worked, no matter how much haste and impatience I had, God has His timetable. And his timetable includes my yielding to His rest. Yielding to His Lordship over my life.
Yielding to His rest is an opportunity for us to release to Him the struggles, fears, and anxieties we hold on to because we are in a constant state of busyness. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28 (NLT),
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
When we yield to this Kairos rest, we will cease our striving. We will be still and know that He is God. We will exalt Him as Lord over our doing and Lord over our rest (Psalm 46:10) and find rest for our souls.
Sabbath is that uncluttered time and space in which we can distance ourselves from our own activities enough to see what God is doing. Eugene Peterson
Reflection
Do you have difficulty yielding to God’s rest that He has so graciously made available to you? Ask Him to show you how you can schedule rest into the busyness of your life.
Prayer
Thank You, Lord, for Your Kairos rest. Help me, Lord, to let go of the burdens that keep me from finding my rest in You. Lord, I give my struggles, my worries, and my anxiety to You. Help me to cease my striving and to yield to Your rest. Help me not to be in a hurry, but to trust You to do what only You can do in my doing and in my rest. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.
