Restlessness

A restless heart. This condition is all too common today, as in the past. St. Augustine, writing in his Confessions (about 397 AD), declared his conviction that God had made us for Himself and “our heart is restless until it rests in You.”

Our hearts become restless when we cannot find true peace. This is the result of being separated from God, for we only experience real peace when we are fulfilled in our relationship with Him.

God told Isaiah that although the ungodly may accumulate things and experiences, none of this can bring them peace. How easily they can become like “the tossing sea.”

Here the Bible used a word usually translated “to drive out,” often with violence. It was used, for example, when God drove Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24).

So this passage in Isaiah is describing a sea that is violent—as if the sea was acting to make the wicked feel totally uncomfortable.

This kind of violent restlessness is a curse for the ungodly. Even though they may wonder why they feel this way, the problem stems from the root condition of their lives. They may engage in many activities to cover up these foundational issues, but they still won’t have peace in their heart. They are like the waters that cast up “refuse and mud,” churning up sediment and muddying situations that had been clear.

Believers, too, can experience this kind of restlessness at times. It may mean we aren’t in harmony with God. Or it may indicate that He wants to warn us, correct us, convict us, or teach us.

Today, remember the words of Jesus: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you” (John 14:27). You cannot get this peace from anything or anyone else in the world. Knowing Him is the only way to find real peace and freedom from restlessness.