Raise your hand if you sometimes feel too drained to engage in anything other than watching videos, playing games on your phone, or lying in bed. Or when reading the Bible, praying, and engaging in physical activities feel like too high a mountain to climb. Yes, I’m raising my hand too. Even though I’ve written a book about burnout and dealing with tiredness in spiritually healthy ways, I’m occasionally still plagued by fatigue, like every other human being.
Not quite the fatigue typical for burnout (which can make you feel utterly depleted, physically unwell, anxious, trapped, and tearful), but just feeling completely drained… And that often leads to “solutions” such as procrastinating, crashing on the couch, and seeking mindless activities to relax. But often, those solutions don’t really work, and we still feel tired afterwards. Or we resort to going on a vacation and come back so tired we need a vacation from the vacation.
All people get tired, of course, but I’ve noticed a pattern: those who are highly sensitive, recovering from trauma, or prone to overthinking are affected by exhaustion more often. Some feel tired all the time, have no energy, and every small task leaves them feeling exhausted.
That made me wonder: where does this tiredness come from, and what should a God-fearing Christian do about it?
As it turns out, we get tired in three different ways, and most of us keep treating all three with the same remedy…
Welcome to this series in which I consult the Bible and the Holy Spirit about common questions about tiredness, the Sabbath, and rest in general.
Some years ago, a friend and I discussed the topic of rest. He had questions many Christians have, like: “What does it mean to ‘rest in God’?” “Is this rest spiritual, physical, or both?” “Is it wrong for Christians to desire rest in order to be more productive?” And the question I struggled with: “Does God really want me to rest right now, or is that just an excuse to be lazy?”
That day I didn’t feel I had the right answers for him, but I promised to pray about it. Then, last year, I had surgery. The long recovery and my vacation afterward gave me a lot of enforced rest. And that is where God finally answered me. He gave me so much that one video couldn’t hold it, so I divided it into parts that give all the questions the time they deserve.
In this part, we’ll lay the foundation: the three categories of tiredness the Bible points to, how to recognize which one you’re actually dealing with, and why we get tired as Christians in the first place. We’ll need that groundwork before we can tackle the harder questions. You can find the written version of this episode, with all Scripture references and sources, linked below.
Three categories of tiredness
Because according to Scripture we are spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23), I believe there are three types, or categories, of tiredness:
- The first is spiritual tiredness, which presents itself when we are spiritually depleted. For example, when we have been starving ourselves of the Bread of Life, so the Word of God. Relaxation and a good night’s rest don’t resolve this kind of tiredness.
- The second is tiredness of the soul, which involves cognition and emotions. It presents itself when we have been working hard with our minds and feelings. For example, after a long day of focused desk work, or, say, after a visit to the therapist. Overthinking, emotional distress, and trauma recovery all lead to fatigue. You may want to sleep it off, but when a day has been very exciting or stressful, you may feel “tired but wired” because of adrenaline. And you may have a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep. Unfortunately, this leads to even more tiredness.
- The third is physical tiredness after physical exertion. This is the most straightforward. We all feel tired after pushing our bodies to the limit by exercising or doing strenuous activities.
We can feel tired in one of these areas, but also in multiple categories simultaneously.
The fact that there are different ways in which we can become tired means that we need to identify which parts of us need rest, so that we know how to rest. Which part gets tired depends on daily activities, personality, and lifestyle factors.
Imagine that you’ve been to a crowded Christian event with loud music, bright lights, and interesting speakers. This takes a lot of brainpower to process. Depending on how much buffer you had, you may feel mentally drained afterwards. And if you had to stand during the event, perhaps you’d feel physically tired as well. But spiritually, you might feel recharged, and so you feel joyful and hopeful.
Rest starts with an awareness of the signals that tell you which parts of you need rest. Do you feel pain or strain in your muscles? Do your feet hurt? Are your thoughts racing? Does it feel like your brain has no room for new information?
Depending on what you feel, you can take measures such as putting your legs up afterwards and doing something less stimulating. Or you could try taking a nap, sitting on a park bench, or writing about your experiences.
One can also become physically and mentally drained with little or no exertion when they should make certain lifestyle changes, such as getting the nutrients they need for fuel, better sleep hygiene, or regular exercise. These things are important because our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), and when our bodies don’t function properly as a result of our own negligence, we will become spiritually drained too. A body without energy and a brain without mental clarity will have a hard time praying, reading the Bible, or serving in the Kingdom of God. A worn-out body’s priority is survival, not building relationships with God or other people. You can see how that can lead to a downward spiral fast.
This series won’t be about those kinds of lifestyle changes; there are plenty of other resources for that. We’ll focus on the spiritual insights and eye-openers that help us rest and restore energy the way God intended. Later in the series, we’ll look at the role satan plays in our tiredness and how to defeat him. We’ll also do a deep dive into the true meaning of Sabbath, which is widely misunderstood, and what this means for the way you rest. Subscribe so you don’t miss those.
The seven types of rest, a Biblical perspective
You may have heard about the seven types of rest, an idea coined by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith.
This concept has received quite a bit of attention in the media in recent years. I haven’t read her work, but she publicly identifies these seven types of rest:
- Physical
- Mental
- Creative
- Emotional
- Sensory
- Social
- Spiritual
I think this framework makes sense within the Biblical framework of the three categories of tiredness I described. So, this is my take on them:
Physical rest, which was the third category of tiredness I mentioned, can be found mainly in sleep and by temporarily ceasing the specific physical activity that depleted our energy.
The five following types of rest- mental, creative, emotional, sensory, and social- all belong in the category of tiredness of the soul. Let’s explore my views on each:
- Mental rest can be found in activities that don’t involve the mind, at least not in the way that made you tired. For example, through physical exercise, artistry, or by journaling to calm your racing mind. Mental fatigue can also be caused by information overload. Nowadays, information is more accessible than ever. And for a curious person like me, this can be a true temptation. Sometimes, I find myself on YouTube, watching interesting documentaries at double speed for hours, wondering why I feel unable to process new information afterwards. My mind feels, well, full. But if my mind is already full, how can God fill it with His insights? During my recent vacation, I did a YouTube fast, which resulted in better focus, more mental energy, and more time to spend with God and my husband.
- Creative rest is something that speaks to me, since my occupation is very creative. After a season of intense writing, for example, I need a creative break to continue producing high-quality content. It helps to be creative in other ways, in my case through photography for instance, or by engaging in “boring” activities, such as doing the laundry or taking a shower. God often sparks fresh ideas and insights in me during those quieter times.
- Emotional rest involves taking a break from those things that make us feel a lot. These feelings can arise from intense circumstances, such as a move or changing jobs. We don’t always control these circumstances, but often we can have more influence than we think, through prayer and planning. Emotional rest can also be a necessity when dealing with other people’s emotions; their burdens or outbursts can move us, too. Trauma recovery is another factor that requires a lot of emotional rest. To find emotional rest, it can help to unload your feelings to God, your partner, a therapist, a pastoral caregiver, or a journal.
- Sensory rest, I think, is often underrated. We live in a time when our senses are constantly bombarded. Sounds, smells, bright lights, you name it- all of it needs to be filtered out and processed by our brains to function well. This requires energy. Much of this is handled in our sleep, but incorporating some quiet time during the day can help. When I was suffering from chronic migraines, my brain screamed in agony for some sensory peace and quiet. I countered this from two angles: increasing the amount of energy available to my brain and planning against over-stimulation. For me, that could mean taking measures such as planning no social activities after church or a busy workday.
- Social rest, to me, closely relates to sensory rest, emotional rest, and mental rest. Having many social interactions means constantly being “on”: it involves focus, emotion regulation, using most of your senses, and sometimes it even requires watchfulness. Temporarily having no appointments (besides with God) can free up some space in all these areas.
I mentioned the category spiritual tiredness first because I believe Paul used the order spirit, soul, and body deliberately. As children of God, who is spirit, we are spiritual beings first. That means that when our spirits are weakened, both our soul and body will suffer. At the same time, we can be physically weak and spiritually strong. We can also limit our spiritual development when we are struggling with our thoughts and feelings, but when we are spiritually dead, there is no hope for a full restoration of our mental health.
Therefore, I believe that spiritual rest is the foundation beneath all other forms of rest. But it’s not as simple as resting from spiritual activities. What it truly is surprised me a lot when the Holy Spirit finally showed it to me. We’ll get to that in the following parts of this series.
But first, let’s answer the question: why do we get tired as Christians to begin with?
Why do we get tired as Christians?
The answer to the question of why we get tired may seem obvious: because we have physical limitations. Although that is true, and God is aware of our innate physical limitations, we also have capabilities beyond our limitations in Christ, because nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). His Spirit, who lives in us, provides us with supernatural strength: strength that exceeds what is possible in the natural realm (Philippians 4:13, Isaiah 40:29-31). This means that we don’t just sit there and rest in our physical limitations, but we draw the additional strength we need from God.
So, does that mean we should never rest because God is never tired (Isaiah 40:28-31)? No, not according to the Bible. God never sleeps, but we do (Psalm 121:4, 4:8). God is spirit (John 4:24), but our God-given physical bodies need to recharge each day, so God gave us sleep to do so. Jesus was also not immune to tiredness, and He too needed rest and sleep (John 4:6; Matthew 8:24).
Even so, for Christians, resting looks different from how the world rests: it’s more complete, stable, and fruitful, because we rest on the Rock.
Our rest requires trust in God. God gives us enough manna for one day, and His mercies are new every morning (Exodus 16:16-21, Lamentations 3:22-23). So, God gives us what we need to fulfill His will one day at a time. When we trust Him in this, we have a restful sleep, knowing that the next morning there will be provisions. And when we wake up in the morning, we rest in the faith that His provision will be enough for that day.
The quickest way to drain ourselves is by separating ourselves from the One who sustains us, by stepping outside of His will and doing things in our own strength. This usually means that we haven’t set proper boundaries towards ourselves and others to help us stay in the lane God put us in. But although tiredness can result from sin, it’s not a sin to be tired. And we can react to tiredness in a sinful or righteous way. So, to stay in God’s will, even while resting, we have to understand what the Bible means when talking about rest. What does it mean to rest in God? How will God give us rest? What is the real meaning of Sabbath? We’ll cover those questions next.
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