Resting in the Lord

"God gives to his beloved in sleep" (Ps 127:2).

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." (Mt 11:28-30).

Our God is a God who rests after His labors, and who invites us to rest with Him. When His People resisted Him in the desert, He swore, "They shall never enter my rest" (Ps 95:11). In the Old Testament spirituality of the sabbath, we sanctify the day by resting in the LORD. The Good Shepherd stands guard over us while we eat from the table He sets for us in the midst of our enemies (Ps 23:5). "It is vain for you to rise early and put off your rest at night, To eat bread earned by hard toil — all this God gives to his beloved in sleep" (Ps 127:2). "Rest in peace" is a way of life, not just a blessing at the end of life's journey.

G. K. Chesterton

Do you know what sleep is? Do you know that every man who sleeps believes in God? It is a sacrament; for it is an act of faith and it is a food. And we need a sacrament, if only a natural one.