We live in a world that celebrates busyness. Productivity is praised, packed schedules are admired, and rest is often equated with laziness. We push ourselves and often others, to meet endless demands, constantly feeling the pressure to prove our worth through performance. Yet, somewhere in the rush, our bodies ache, our minds fray, and our souls begin to whisper what we’re trying so hard to ignore: we’re tired.
This isn’t a call to glorify exhaustion or to burn out for the sake of accomplishment. Instead, it’s a quiet invitation: Be tired. Acknowledge it. Sit with it. Give yourself permission to feel it.
Scripture doesn’t shame our weariness; it recognises it. In Isaiah 40:28-29, we’re reminded that even youth—those full of energy and strength—grow tired and weary. How much more so for the rest of us? But the promise doesn’t stop there. It says that “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”
When Jesus calls in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,” He is not asking us to pretend we’re fine. He is offering a sacred pause, a gentle space where we can stop striving and start healing.
I’ve been there—pushing past healthy limits, confusing busyness for value, and eventually hitting the wall of burnout very hard. Many of us live at that pace, afraid that if we stop, we’ll fall behind or that others will think less of us. But we forget: rest is not failure. It’s faith. It takes trust to slow down and believe that God can do more with our surrender than we can with our strain.
Jeremiah 31:25 beautifully echoes this truth: “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” God isn’t disappointed in your need for rest. He anticipates it. He designed you with limits—and with a rhythm of rest, like the Sabbath, to honor those limits and realign with Him.
Even elite athletes prioritise rest and recovery as essential to their performance. Why should we be any different?
So maybe it’s time to reconsider our calendars and commitments. What would it look like to protect our rest, not as a luxury, but as a necessity? How can we realign our energy with God’s priorities rather than the world’s pressures?
Rest is not weakness. It’s wisdom. It’s worship. And yes, it’s okay to be tired.