When Your Mind is Restless on the Pillow

The other night, I laid my head down to sleep and my mind awoke to all the thoughts and emotions I’d ignored during the day.

Worries,

Regrets,

Frustrations,

And hurts…

They all pranced through my mind like a disruptive parade.

So I fluffed my pillows and got the temperature just right…and continued to toss and turn, wide awake.

My trouble was: I was restless on the inside.

And I wonder… have you ever been there?

The truth is, inner rest can be hard to find.

But there is hope. Look at Jeremiah 6:16:

This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls…
(Jeremiah 6:16, NIV)

This passage reminds us: God offers us the rest we so desperately need.

The Kind of Rest God Offers

Rest for your soul

The word for “soul” in verse 16 is the Hebrew word “nephesh,” which can refer to the inner man, the self, the desires or emotions, depending on the context.^[1]

So the rest God offers us isn’t just rest for our bodies—it goes deeper than that.

God offers us rest from the burdens that weigh on our very souls.

And He can do this because the rest He gives us is…

Rest that comes from having a Resting Place

Again, I go back to the meaning of words. The word “rest” (“margoa” in Hebrew) comes from a root that means resting place.^[2]

And I think this is significant.

When God gives us inner rest, it’s not that we never again have to experience worry, guilt, frustrations and hurts.

It’s that now we have a place to take those burdens.

We have a place we can go with our guilt. When we turn to the Lord in repentance, we can lay down our guilt and receive forgiveness that wipes our slates—and consciences—clean.

We have a place we can go with our fears and worries. God is the One who 1) holds the future and 2) will hold us no matter what the future brings. So when we turn to Him with our concerns, they lose their edge in His embrace.

We have a place we can go with our hurts, frustrations and longings. In this life, things are not always as they should be. But we have a God who welcomes us into His presence, who listens to our cries and is moved by them.

All our emotions can be brought into the presence of God.

And our whole self is welcomed before Him.

God is our resting place.

And, therefore, our souls can be at rest.

But practically speaking, how do we get to this resting place of God?

The Path to the Rest God Offers

The path to inner rest is the path to God, which is only open to us through Jesus.

So if you are not a Christian, your path to inner rest is the same as it was for the Israelites in Jeremiah’s day: repent and return to God.

And how do you do this? By putting your faith in Jesus.

You know, it’s really cool to compare this Old Testament passage to the Gospels.

Because here, God says: “ask where the good way is, and walk in it.” And in John 14:6, Jesus says: “I am the way…no one comes to the Father except through me.” (NIV)

And again, in Jeremiah, God says that if you walk in the good way “you will find rest for your souls…” and in Matthew 11:28, Jesus says “Come to me…and you will find rest for your souls.”

There is no soul rest apart from Jesus so this is where it has to start.

And if you are already a Christian, there is a path you can take for greater inner rest: Run to your Resting Place more often.

When guilt presses on your conscience, take it to God. When fear nags at your mind, take it to God. When you’re sad or weary or mad or hurting, take it to God and lay it all out before Him.

You know, there are so many other places we’re tempted to look for inner rest: Substances that numb us out, entertainment that allows us to escape, etc.

So whenever we feel restless inside, we are standing at a crossroads:

Are we going to take the way of the world?

Or are we going to take the ancient path—the good way to God—where we can find rest for our souls?

This devotion is based on one of the Scriptures from my reading plan: “Rest and the God Who Gives It.” To receive a copy of the reading plan, sign up for the email list below. Hope you’ll follow along!

^[1] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/5315.htm

^[2] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/4771.htm

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