The Necessity of Rest.

As a "triathlete" I have found out something interesting, that many people know, but few tap into.  You get stronger when you rest. Let me explain. 

When you exercise your muscles, whether you are doing an endurance activity or lifting weights, you strain your muscles. You fatigue them. This does not make your muscles stronger. It is only part of the process. What makes your muscle stronger is the healing that takes place after you strain them. In order to heal them, you need to rest them after.  When you rest (recover) your muscle grows back in such a way that it will not be as damaged the next time you apply a similar strain. This is the process to get stronger.  Strain, rest, fuel right, and you will get stronger. 

This is interesting because it implies that rest is necessary for growth. 

God led us in this direction many years ago. 

In Genesis 2:2-3
And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Exodus 20:8-11
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For pin six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it

God, made the Sabbath, so that we could get stronger. So that we could rest from our day to day. God gave us a day, to get stronger spiritually. Not to focus on our wants or our things, or our selfishness, but to focus on Him. We grow when we rest.