When You’re Too Busy to Rest
As I began writing this week, a '90s song popped into my head—“Who Needs Sleep?” by the Barenaked Ladies.
The chorus goes:
Who needs sleep?
Well, you’re never going to get it.
Who needs sleep?
Tell me what that's for.
Who needs sleep?
Be happy with what you’re getting—there’s guys been awake since the Second World War.
That song still finds its way into my head during seasons when rest feels optional in the busyness of life.
Let’s be honest—there’s really no reason to ask “Is your life chaotic today?” because of course it is.
There’s always another meeting, family function, bill, email, school event, kid with the flu, kid pretending to have the flu so they don’t have to go to school, deadline, jury duty, task you keep meaning to take care of, and the one you’re avoiding altogether. Even my word processor is overwhelmed by this run-on sentence of things you need to get done.
But here’s what we need to pause and remember: we were never meant to be perpetual-motion machines.
God gave us the gift of rest—but how many of us are actually receiving it?
Today, I want to look at God’s design for rest and why it matters.
God’s Design for Rest
Let’s start by looking at how much God values rest.
Genesis 1:14
And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years.”
From the moment of creation, God established the purpose of time.
To mark sacred times
Days
Years
In Scripture, when something is sacred, it means it’s set apart for God’s purpose.
Time wasn’t just created for deadlines, alarms, and standardized tests.
It was created to mark sacred times.
And God establishes the very first one just a few verses later:
Genesis 2:1–3
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Does God need rest? Nope.
So why does He rest?
To show us the value of it—the value of pausing to reflect on what’s been accomplished, of slowing down in the midst of the chaos.
Throughout Scripture, God establishes sacred times for rejuvenation, redemption, reflection, repentance, and celebration. (I’ll drop a list at the bottom if you want to dig deeper.)
But instead of diving into all those examples, let’s fast forward to the New Testament and look at what Jesus had to say about rest.
Jesus Redefines Rest
Mark 2:23–24
One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?”
Here’s the context:
Over time, the purpose of rest—specifically the Sabbath—had been buried under layer upon layer of man-made rules and religious expectations.
Jesus’ response re-establishes God’s original intent:
Mark 2:27–28
Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”
Mic drop moment.
The Pharisees believed the Sabbath existed to meet the requirements of the law.
Jesus flips that completely—revealing that the Sabbath exists to meet people's needs.
You need rest.
God established that from the very beginning, and Jesus reemphasized it for all of us.
Even Jesus rested. He stepped away. He withdrew to quiet places.
We often skip rest because there are “more important” things to get done.
But here’s what we can’t miss: Jesus was doing the most critical work that will ever be done—and He still rested.
What if we started viewing rest with the same urgency we assign to everything else?
What if we moved it to the top of our list?
What if we received it as the gift it was meant to be?
Making Space
If we want to prioritize rest, we have to make space for it.
Here’s a straightforward starting point:
Screen time.
Doomscrolling is not rest. (Seriously—Google it.)
It keeps your mind in an over-alert state, which is the opposite of restful.
Check your phone’s screen time report.
Mine averaged 5 hours and 53 minutes a day this past week—and real talk, it used to be nearly double that before I started challenging myself here.
There aren’t many things I do for six hours a day… so why was I on my phone that much?
I’ve started shutting down specific apps in the evenings and on weekends—YouTube, TikTok, Instagram. And since social media is part of my job, that’s not easy. But it creates space.
What Does Rest Look Like?
The obvious answer is sleep (but let’s tackle one giant at a time).
Rest doesn’t always mean sitting still.
It might look like:
Taking a day off from your phone
Prioritizing family time
Having lunch with an old friend
Reading a book
Going for a walk
Listening to a podcast
Even doing chores—under the right circumstances!
Don’t get lost in the technicalities. Create space, and find what helps your soul breathe again.
Wrapping Up
Sacred times of rest were created for you.
You need them—deeply.
Life isn’t going to slow down on its own. You’ll have to make the time.
But when you do, I promise—you’ll be glad you did.
