I was listening to Michael Todd’s sermon recently called ‘Cuffed to Constant’ and he made a reference to how Jesus often withdrew for rest.

He pointed out that before every major miracle, Jesus withdrew to avail Himself some much needed rest.

That piqued my interest so much that I had to take up the challenge to do my usual YouVersion word study.

Note – that this sermon was only the final of a 9-week convicting series called Cuffing Season where he preached about our desperate need to free ourselves from bad habits we’ve tied ourselves to.

I highly recommend going through each week as it is very likely you will find wisdom addressing a current issue you are facing.

You can check out my sermon notes on some of those weeks.

On Embracing Rest

Rest is such a desperate need for us all.

Physiologically, we cannot deny the importance of this for our overall health.

We function at a much more diminished capacity when we neglect to honor our basic need for sleep.

We are so bombarded these days with never-ending stimulation.

Ungodly work hours with project after project to fill the pockets of big corporations, the constant grind of personal entrepreneurial pursuits and the trap of social media’s FOMO culture.

But our spirit-man craves this rest.

10 Times Jesus Withdrew

The Bible calls us to be set apart from the crowd in Romans 12:2.

We cannot afford to be effective in our ministries and in our family if we neglect to give rest to our temple.

We see that Jesus valued rest.

He was fully human when He walked on earth; so much so that He too succumbed to exhaustion on occasion. (See Mark 4:38-40 and Matthew 8:23-27)

Our Lord and Savior was so tired that the storm didn’t stir Him!

But we do see that Jesus was quite intentional about withdrawing for rest.

Here are 10 times I found where Jesus made a point to step away so He wouldn’t get depleted.

Note that these scriptures are quoted in my preferred Bible translation – ESV unless otherwise noted.

10 Times Jesus Withdrew In Scripture

¹² Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.

Matthew 4:12

¹⁵ Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all

Matthew 12:15

⁴¹ And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed,

Luke 22:41

²¹ And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

Matthew 15:21

⁷ Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea

Mark 3:7

¹⁰ On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida.

Luke 9:10

¹⁵ Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

John 6:15

¹³ Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

Matthew 14:13

¹⁶ But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Luke 5:16

⁵⁴ Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

John 11:54 NIV

Now That We’ve Seen 10 Times Jesus Withdrew in Scripture

Do you feel convicted to carve out intentional time to follow the example of our Master?

Note that Jesus had a very intense ministry.

He had a lot to accomplish in a very short span of 3 years and there was no shortage of sick to heal and demons to cast out.

Likewise for us, we must remain committed to honoring our work…honoring our calling.

But let us do so in diligence as well as in prudence.

We all need to take that time to withdraw like Jesus and allow Holy Spirit to replenish us.

Know too that rest is a gift to us as well as an actual commandment.

So important is our rest that God considers it a sin when we opt not to take our seventh day of rest.

I have been very guilty of this one.

Have you?

What steps can you make to intentionally rest and honor God’s commandment?

Do share with me in the comments and let us make this a prayer point going forward.

Before You Move On

I love to leave you with a gift in song around here.

Here is a song I suspect you might not have heard before from Dante Bowe’s album ‘Circles’.

I may be wrong of course but I hope you enjoy this live performance of it.