Finding Rest in a Restless World: Biblical Wisdom for Escaping Hurry
Jesus once spoke into a world not so different from our own: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Not just sleep — rest. The kind that quiets the chaos and reminds us we are more than what we produce. The kind that frees us from the grind and lifts the weights we were never meant to carry. And it’s available to anyone willing to slow down, breathe deep, and lean into Jesus.
Our Pacing Problem
If we’re honest, most of us don’t know how to slow down, let alone stop. We’ve cruised along at high speeds for so long that applying the brakes seems impossible. Maybe even reckless. The world has discipled us into believing that our worth is tied to our work. Success means movement. Productivity equals value. So we continue as we always have – speeding down the interstate, chasing after the next thing. John Mark Comer calls this “hurry sickness” — an epidemic of busyness that leaves us anxious, distracted, and spiritually thin. And most of us are living undiagnosed. We’re sick and don’t even realize it. We cleverly disguise hurry as ambition, responsibility, or drive, but in reality, it’s often fear: Fear of being left behind, of being seen as lazy, of not measuring up, of missing out.
Hurry sickness isn’t a modern problem either. It’s ancient. Long before smartphones and overflowing calendars, the writer of Ecclesiastes was wrestling with the same restless striving. He asked, “What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 2:22–23). The endless chase for more – more success, more achievement, more validation – has always left men weary and empty. Hurried living still leads to grief, pain, and, in the end, a hollow sense of meaninglessness.
The Sabbath Solution
Yet even in our restless striving, God offers a better way. From the very beginning, he had a plan for rest. He built it into creation and test drove it himself. “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work” (Genesis 2:2). God wasn’t tired. He was teaching us the rhythm of work and rest: six days of creation, one day of rest. A holy and welcome pause. This rest wasn’t burdensome to God; it was restorative to his soul. Years later, when his people roamed the Sinai wilderness, he wanted them to experience this soul-refreshing rest, too. So, he commanded them to “Sabbath” (Exodus 20:8) once a week. For the Israelites, this meant coming to a full stop, which required trust, especially in a world that measured worth by output. Each Sabbath, they stopped gathering manna, the food God sent daily, and learned to trust that he would provide enough anyway (Exodus 16:23–30). And he always did.
If God could be trusted to provide food for two-to-three million roaming Israelites when they rested from work once a week, could he be trusted to provide for you when you slow down? He could. So, go ahead. Put down the work project. Shut the computer. Stop the chores. Trust that God alone is enough for you, and that he will provide what you need. Besides, your identity doesn’t depend on what you produce. For men especially, this truth can cut deep. In fact, most men need to reframe their thinking when it comes to slowing down: Rest is not laziness. It’s resistance. It’s standing against a culture that says, “Do more,” and saying instead, “I am loved and have everything I need, even when I do nothing.”
The Jesus Way: Unhurried Living
If anyone ever modeled this perfectly, it was Jesus. One of the most striking things about him was that he was never in a hurry. He was busy, but never rushed. Even when surrounded by need, pressure, and crowds, he often withdrew to quiet places to pray (Luke 5:15–16).
Comer writes that following Jesus means more than believing His words. It means adopting his lifestyle, and the way of Jesus is intentionally slower, simpler. It’s a more fully-present way of doing life, and it’s worth modeling in your own. It might look like starting the day with silence before screens. Turning off the phone and spending time in Scripture or prayer. Taking a walk without the noise of headphones. Sharing a long meal with your family or an unhurried conversation with your wife. These small acts of slowing are spiritual, allowing intentional space for God to meet us and remind us that in him, we have everything we need.
The truth is, the pace we live at shapes the depth of our soul. The faster we move, the thinner we become and the more our souls begin to fracture under the weight of hurry. We can’t live in a sprint and expect intimacy with a Savior who walks.
Sabbath rest isn’t about rigid rules; it’s about holy rhythms that bring strength to our souls. It’s about deep trust that reminds us who we are and who God is. And it starts with us. We can’t just command rest; we have to model it. So, allow your family to see what it looks like to slow down, to stop striving, to delight in God’s presence. What if the most Christlike thing you do this week isn’t another task or project, but stopping long enough to remember you’re his? God isn’t in a hurry. He’s not measuring your worth by your to-do list. He’s inviting you to rest — to breathe, to trust, to delight.
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