Rest, Worms & The Tyrant of More

REST, WORMS & THE TYRANT OF MORE

Don’t you just love those mornings when you don’t have to wake up with an alarm? A few extra minutes of sleep are absolutely glorious when the day before has left us bone tired.  What is even better is that when we rest, God doesn’t just avert His eyes pretending that He doesn’t see, and grumble under His breath about our laziness.  It was God who invented rest!  

It was such a fabulous idea, that in Genesis 2:3 it says, “Then God blessed the seventh day and made it HOLY, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”  He ceased from His labor, not because He was tired, but rather to relax and enjoy the beauty of His handiwork.  He took care to mention it in scripture, not simply as an interesting plot point in His story, but as an example for us, His children, on how to live our lives.  

Somehow though, the enemy has planted it in our thoughts that more is better — more work is better, more production, more money, more food, more wine, more stuff.  That insatiable, deceiving tyrant of MORE tells us that to be happy and fulfilled we just need “a little bit more.”  So, we work harder, do more, eat more, save more, collect more, and the tyrant says, “You’re almost there!  Keep going!”  The proverbial carrot of happiness always remains just out of reach.  

Continually striving for more is exhausting and destructive.  It steals relationships, ruins marriages, squanders precious, limited time of investing into our families, damages our health, and ironically, it dries up our joy.  The Lord wants us to enjoy both His creation as well as our own creation.  He calls us to a day of rest by providing an example.  Then, because we still don’t embrace it, He made it a command (Exodus 20:8-11).  

While most of us take seriously that we are to refrain from stealing and murder, we do occasionally skirt around lying, coveting and a few other commandments.  If we were to be honest, however, the thought of honoring the Sabbath day rarely even comes up on our radar.  We want to obey the command, but “we don’t have the time to.”  The thought may cross our minds, but the voice of anxiety to get things done, drives us to put rest off.  We reschedule it for a more convenient season that may, or may not ever, come.  It may sound crazy to say, but we need help to learn to truly rest.  

Nearly all of us are exhausted.  We tell the Lord in our prayers about our exhaustion and overwork.  We long for sleep and rest, but then we bristle when God tells us to do it!  There is a tendency to view required rest as mandatory boredom where we stare at a wall. Or worse yet, we wear our uncomfortable clothes and somber faces, while quietly reading scripture aloud in the original Greek.  The truth has slipped between our fingers and has been lost.  The Sabbath rest is a phenomenal gift! The Sabbath is an answer to our prayers!

Father, I come together with my friend who is reading this.  We may already be  disciplined and enjoying regular Sabbath rests, but we may not.  Help us to be careful and wise in how we live the other six days of the week, so that we create enough margin in our lives so as to obey You in this.

Show us what rest means to You.  Show us the joy of Your presence.  Help us to rediscover the joy of family, tasty leftovers in the fridge, playing a game, listening to music sitting out by a pool, taking pictures of a gorgeous vista or a luxurious afternoon nap.  Help us to find the joy of ceasing from our labors and trusting in You to take up the slack.  Show us the joy of deeply relaxing and enjoying all of these things without even a hint of guilt, and with the full knowledge that this wonderful rest is actually obedience.  

What an amazing God You are!  In our obedience to rest, partner with us in our work the other six days, so we are able to accomplish more in six than alone we would in seven.  Nudge us to not wait until we are all caught up to strive to obey You in this.  Help us to obey in resting first, and then see what we can accomplish when You partner with us to get it all done.  

Your Word says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” - Matthew 6:33.  The seeds of obedience will bring a harvest of restored joy, strength and hope.  At the end of the week may we still find leftover energy and an unexpected reserve of finances.  May we find sweetness replacing the sour in relationships, and wisdom and unity replacing confusion and division.

In it all, may we know You better and see that while Your ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8), hallelujah! Your ways are better!  Bless us with rest, Father!  In Jesus’ Name ❤️

Dear friend, we all need to rest.  It isn’t wisdom to work ourselves to the point of exhaustion.  Sometimes we are not the best at curtailing expenditure of time on frivolousness . Other times we work ourselves to the bone and take on more than we have the grace to complete, because, if we were honest, it makes us feel important, needed and indispensable, or we struggle with an underlying issue of greed.  Then there are those times when we overwork, because we lack faith that God will help to finish our work if we obey by resting in Him. 

The children of Israel learned in the desert, that when they collected more manna than they needed for the day, the leftovers turned to worms by morning (Ex 16:20).  Who wants worms for their effort?  Why not ask the Lord to help you with time management, reveal your underlying motivation and level of faith? 💡

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