How do I enter God’s rest?

This year I did something new. I chose a word to focus on, study, foster in my life. The word is “REST.” It came to me in late December as 2025 was closing the chapter on another year. I was just completing a chronological read through the Bible and was wondering what—or how—to study in 2026. I settled on reading Proverbs and Psalms during the week, and do a deep dive into my word on the weekends.

I read somewhere Psalms teach us how to relate to God and Proverbs teach us how to have healthy human relationships. I am always up for knowing God better and fostering good relationships in life. Who doesn’t have room to grow in these areas, lifelong endeavors that they are.

Prior to settling on the word REST I had been praying about it. There were a few words knocking around in my head. Peace. Hope. Love. The usual suspects. But when the word REST came to mind I was a little surprised. I hadn’t consciously considered it, but that word seemed so … ambiguous. Do I need to rest? I wondered.

I am a good sleeper and don’t often have problems in that area. Also, I work remotely/freelance and have ample time for breaks, exercise, meditating, and the like. I don’t have a heavy mental load most days; I’ve done a lot of work on managing my thoughts and stress. Don’t get me wrong, I have my angsty moments, just not often enough to merit the need for a retreat.

And there’s more: I take a day off each week. I’ve long outgrown the silly notion that the world will fall apart if I don’t work every. single. day.

So since I knew I didn’t need physical or mental rest, I decided the word came to me because I needed (gulp) spiritual rest. God’s rest.

How exactly do I enter God’s rest? More importantly, why wasn’t I already there?

It is so much easier for me to say I’m physically tired. I need a nap. I’ve got to lie down. I’m spent. I can’t take one more step. It’s easier to say all those things than admit I’m spiritually tired. Because if I say I’m spiritually tired that means I’ve been meddling again. I’ve been dipping into God’s work and carrying it around on my shoulders.

Oh, hey, God, let me take care of that myself. I can do it. See? I’m handling it.

Right.

I might as well say, I don’t trust you with all these problems, God.

And while I have the power of the Holy Spirit in me that can accomplish unfathomably more than I could ever do on my own, I have to be honest and say sometimes I take on the problems of the world on. my. own.

And my kids’ problems and my neighbors problems and someone on some remote island I saw on the news. Their problems, too.

How do I take those problems on, you might ask? Well, I am not able to actually take on the remote island person’s problems, so I think about it and ways it could be fixed. Yes, I contemplate solutions to all sorts of issues, especially my own. While that might sound selfish to contemplate solutions to one’s own problems more than anyone else’s, I really don’t think I’m unique here. We each live with ourselves every second of every day and are always dealing with our own problems. Always.

Anyway, you get the point. I can get very busy thinking-thinking-thinking and mentally fixing things that are utterly out. of. my. control.

Oi.

I’m spiritually tired. I need a soul-nap. I’ve got to lay it all down. I’m spent. I can’t think about one more unsolvable problem. I’m spiritually tired.

At least I was on December 31.

So my word—REST—has been my weekend topic of Bible study, research, and meditation for a little over a month now. And I must admit I was much more heavy laden than I realized.

That first month studying rest and how to enter into God’s rest had me reading two scriptures.

Matthew 11:28 – “Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Hebrews 4:1-2 – “That’s why, as long as that promise of entering God’s rest remains open to us, we should be careful that none of us seem to fall short ourselves. Those people in the wilderness heard God’s good news, just as we have heard it, but the message they heard didn’t do them any good since it wasn’t combined with faith.”

Jesus invites us to rest. He WILL give us rest.

And God has provided a spiritually eternal rest for us. We must believe it. Combine rest with faith and enter into it. If you’re like me, it is going to take some time to dig deep-deep-deep enough to fully grasp the concept of this holy healing rest.

I’m working on it. Hey, I’ve got all year to sit with this word. Work with this word. Practice this word. REST.

I’m in it to win and here’s what I’ve learned so far. God is trustworthy. He can take care of all the problems and my impatience doesn’t need to succumb to the spiritual gymnastics of figuring out all the problems. The funny thing is I’ve been doing it most of my life and let me report, things have not gotten better. Just more frustrating and more work.

And for anyone out there who is wondering how they will muster up the faith to trust God enough to enter His rest (and let Jesus lead), I’m here to say you can lay that down as well. Ask God for the faith you need to rest in Him. He will give it. Keep at it. Don’t give up. Stick with it. Of course, I mean do it in the most restful state possible.

Remember: God’s got you. And I’m praying for you. Yes, I can pray for someone I’ve never seen and never met. All this resting and trusting God has actually freed up more space in my mind and heart for prayer.

Imagine that.