Remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: “The Lord your God is giving you rest and has granted you this land (Joshua 1:13). You are to help your brothers until the Lord gives them rest (Joshua 1:14b).

Please pause here and picture a sleeping baby. Did you smile? They are so sweet when they’re sleeping, aren’t they?

Yet their way to dreamland often includes a battle, doesn’t it? They need sleep yet they fight it. What gives with that? And what does that have to do with Joshua 1?

God had told Joshua, Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land… (Joshua 1:6a). That land was currently occupied by Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. (Exodus 3:8)

But God did not promise land alone. He also promised rest. 

Has it always been true that a battle precedes entering rest, whether that’s the sleep-kind of rest or the God-kind of rest? 

If so, what do we battle? The meanings of those “-ites” names could be enlightening here. My brief research found that Canaanite means “a zealot or fanatic, brought down low.” Hittite: “one who is broken, who fears.” Amorite: “talkers.” Jebusite: “the condition of being down-trodden.”

Do any of those meanings resonate with you as you battle to enter either the sleep-kind or the God-kind of rest? Do you face worries about broken relationships or promises, feelings of being downtrodden at work or in life, concerns about zealots or fanatics, or is there just too much jabbering in your head? (All things that—figuratively or literally— keep you up at night?) 

What happens when we get a good night’s sleep can give us insight into what happens when we rest in God. We awake refreshed, re-energized, and ready to restart, don’t we? 

Entering God’s rest—remembering Him, leaning on Him, trusting in Him—does that and more. Besides, it can do all that even in the midst of a hectic day. It is the undercurrent of peace that keeps restarting us even throughout a difficult season. Even throughout a difficult life.

I believe we each find our own way into God’s rest. The sure thing we share, though, is that God is invested in getting us there. Our as-often-as-possible and as-long-as-possible focus on Jesus will intersect with His forever-focus on us. 

Entering God’s rest is an adventure to anticipate, not an endeavor to dread. We can talk with Jesus about whatever is resisting us and know we will gain insight from Him. 

We can ask others and read about others’ experiences. (I recommend Ruth Haley Barton’s book Invitation to Solitude and Silence.) And we can visit the ageless stories in Scripture that speak to us still.