Give Him No Rest
Have you ever found yourself becoming weary of praying the same prayers? Time and again, you come back to God with your prayer and nothing seems to happen. Then the thought pops into your head “this a waste of time, just give up!” Well you are certainly not alone, and you are not the only one who feels this way when it comes to the spiritual discipline of prayer. The Bible encourages us to persevere in prayer, and in the prophet Isaiah we have a great example of this as God calls His people to prayer:
“On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.” (Isaiah 62:6-7 ESV)
The prophet Isaiah was committed to praying for the salvation of the nation of Judah, in v1 he says: “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet.” Isaiah would continue ceaselessly to pray for the redemption of Isreal. Earlier in Isaiah 61, the prophet had given thanks to God for clothing Himself in righteousness, and now Isaiah prays that God would clothe Zion in righteousness, (vs2-3) and he prays that God would rejoice over His people like a husband over his bride (vs4-5). Which of course, is the final destination for God’s people, to be His bride forever!
Now v6 switches from Isaiah to God Himself. Remarkably, it is God who has set watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem — “I have set watchmen.” God has set apart people to pray, and the unction and zeal for prayer comes from the Holy Spirit, so it is God who provides the prayer warriors and puts the words in their mouths to pray, It is God who sets fire to the hearts of His people to pray.
In ancient Judah, a watchman would stand on the walls to keep lookout, they were guardians to the city. Likewise, prayerful intercessors are true spiritual guardians for the people of God. Never underestimate the spiritual impact of having prayer warriors in a local church, just a small gathering of faithful saints praying together for half an hour, can move spiritual mountains. This is because it is God who puts the holy discontent and desire of the heart to cry out to Him, it is God who calls us to prayer, enables us by His Holy Spirit to pray and who answers those prayers. Notice also that prayer is ceaseless “all day and night they will never be silent” — they keep bringing the need before God, they also “put the Lord in remembrance” — they remind God of His promises in prayer. Since God tells us that He hears our prayers and answers them, we should therefore remind Him of what He has already done for us and promised to do for us.
The watchmen will also “give Him no rest” — they are bold in prayer, that is not to say that they are presumptuous, we do not order or ‘decree’ God to do anything, but we do petition and plead with Him to help us. And it is God Himself who tells us to “Give Him no rest” — but to call on Him ceaselessly. It is both reassuring and humbling to know that God is not offended by bold intercession, in fact, it is the kind of prayer that He commands, which is why Jesus reminds His disciples to “pray without losing heart.” (Luke 18:1)
Lastly, we also see how this prayer is to the expressed will of God, as seen in the next few verses “the Lord has sworn by His right hand.” (v8) So we are to pray boldly and ceaselessly, in line with the Word of God and the promises we find in God’s Word. We should also pray with the confidence and assurance that our prayer is connecting with the One who created us, who loves us, hears our prayers and is concerned to help us in our time of need.