You weren't designed to rest alone

I’ve been thinking about tiredness lately.

Not just the kind that a good night’s sleep fixes, but the deeper kind - the weariness that stays even after you’ve rested. The sort that settles in your bones and doesn’t shift.

I wonder if part of the problem is that we’ve been taught to treat rest as a solo project.

Scripture tells a different story. Ecclesiastes 4:9 says that two people are better off than one, because they can help each other succeed. And the Hebrew Sabbath - far from being a quiet personal retreat - was always a communal rhythm. Families, neighbours, even animals rested together. The pause was shared. The restoration happened in relationship.

The early church got this too. They didn’t simply attend a Sunday service and scatter. They shared meals. They shared resources. They carried each other’s burdens and celebrated each other’s joys. Community wasn’t the add-on to their faith. It was their faith in action.

I think that’s why isolation so often amplifies what we’re already feeling. Anxiety becomes panic. Sadness becomes despair. Weariness becomes exhaustion. But genuine fellowship - the honest, imperfect, accepting kind - provides perspective and shared strength that changes everything.

This week’s devotional explores exactly that. Five minutes. One Scripture. A simple challenge to try with your community this week.

You can watch it here:

You weren’t meant to carry this alone. I really believe that.

Rob