When Rest Gets Interrupted

Imagine this:

After a long string of non-stop, busy days, you finally get a moment to yourself.

You settle in.

The muscles in your shoulders begin to relax ever so slightly.

You needed this.

But suddenly…

your phone lights up
someone in the other room needs you
the demands of an unfinished to-do list break into your thoughts

Can you picture it?

If you’re like most people, you don’t have to use too much imagination with the above scenario.

In our busy and ever-connected world, rest is desperately needed… but it’s oh so easily stolen by interruptions.

We’re not the first generation to experience this, though. Even the disciples had their rest interrupted as they lived life with Jesus!

Mark 6:30-44 is a perfect example of this. Here’s how that passage starts out:

… because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. (Mark 6:30-33, NIV)

From these verses (and the verses that follow), we can find 3 principles to help us navigate the demands that interrupt our rest:

1. Intentionally take time alone with Jesus.

Notice that Jesus didn’t say, “when things calm down, then we’ll take some time away.”

No, right there in the midst of a busy life, He beckoned, ““Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” And He says the same thing to each of us.

In Jesus’ presence, we can rest from life’s demands and let the Lord minister to our own needs.

But in order to find that rest, we have to take time to be in Jesus’ presence.

And this doesn’t happen automatically.

Taking time to be with Jesus means we have to take time away from something else.

So what time will you take back for Jesus this year?

your scrolling time? your binge-watching time? your sleep-in time?

Rest in Jesus’ presence is worth intentionally taking time for.

2. When interruptions come, weigh them with Jesus.

As the story continues in Mark 6:34-37, Jesus and the disciples have 2 very different reactions to the people that interrupted their alone time.

Jesus had compassion on the crowd and began to teach them.

While the disciples responded, “Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” (v36)

Personally, I can’t really blame the disciples for that. They, themselves, hadn’t had a bite to eat and now they were facing the needs of 5,000 other hungry people.

I’d want to send them away, too!

But look at how Jesus responded: “You give them something to eat.” (v37)

We don’t always interpret interruptions the way Jesus does.

So it’s worth considering that…

some of the distractions we want to brush off, Jesus would have us attend to.
While some of the distractions we’re attracted by, Jesus would have us say no to.

We need to ask Him: What would You have me do with this interruption?

3. If the interruption must be seen to, depend on Jesus to meet the need…and your own.

The disciples looked at their own resources and thought there was no way they could feed all those people.

But as they obeyed Jesus, they got to see Him multiply their resources and meet every single need—including their own.

Jesus stretched 5 loaves and 2 fish to feed 5,000+ people.

And afterward, there were 12 baskets of leftovers—one for each hungry disciple.

Did you catch that?

Jesus can meet our needs in spite of the interruption—and even through it.

Hallelujah.

Our rest may not be as picturesque or as uninterrupted as we’d like.

But Jesus isn’t limited by that.

He can turn even the interruptions into miraculous provision for us.

Putting it into Practice:

Have you ever had your rest interrupted? By what?

How might these 3 principles reshape your approach to rest in the weeks ahead?

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