Homework done? Check. First job tasks done? Check. Second job tasks done? Check. Texted everyone back? Check. Chores done? Check.
Yet the feeling of overwhelming guilt persisted as I walked into the coffee shop with my friend. What was I forgetting?
The answer was nothing. I had genuinely completed everything I needed to. Yet I still couldn’t take a break. The fear that if I stopped I would miss something huge or someone would need something from me overwhelmed the time I had blocked out with my friend.
Maybe you can relate to this guilt-ridden experience. Or maybe for you to take a break is frustrating because you could be doing so much more. Maybe it’s a desire for success that keeps you going. Or maybe a desire to be better. Maybe it’s the fear that if you don’t complete this next thing you won’t make ends meet or you will lack in some way. The drive to keep going is fueled by many thoughts and fears.
Yet, we see a very different picture in the Bible.
The Point of Rest
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
it is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for He gives to His beloved sleep.
(Psalm 127:1-2)
That’s exactly what you want to hear about all your hard work, right? It’s all in vain! Unless the Lord is in it. And then the ending: God gives sleep to those He loves.
I used to read that as those who don’t sleep aren’t loved by God. And for a girl who wrestled with sleeping all through middle school, that felt quite discouraging to say the least. But reading it now, it seems that God gives the gift of sleep to those He loves. Because He loves us, He offers us sleep.
But often sleep and rest are seen as unproductive, maybe even unnecessary to the world. If you can keep going, why would you stop? Wouldn’t that be useless?
But that’s not how God works.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation.
(Genesis 2:1-3)
God did not need to rest. Yet, He did it anyway. Why then did He rest? Because He wanted to delight in His work. God had finished what was needed. He could’ve kept working, kept adding to Creation. But He decided to stop and enjoy what He had done because it was good (Genesis 1:31). God offers the gift of rest and sleep so we can experience delight in the work we have done, but also in Him (Deuteronomy 5:15).
But our perception of and commitment to rest truly stems from what we believe about God.
Root of a Busybody
At the root of our inclination towards constant work is often a lack of trust in God. The fear of failure. The anxiety of dropping the ball. The guilt of not covering all your bases. The pressure to overperform comes from a lack of trusting God’s provision.
Jesus hits on this in Matthew 6.
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
(Matthew 6:25-27)
This sounds incredibly similar to Psalm 127. Our anxiety – or busyness – accomplishes nothing. God is the One in control. He gives victory and He gives success. He gives food to the birds and clothes to the flowers. In the same way, He sustains and clothes us. Our anxiety can do nothing to make this more or less true.
When you look back at Psalm 127, the verses after 1-2 all talk about children. I spent a lot of time wondering about the connection between anxious toil and children. Is there really any connection? Or just random placement?
I believe this is incredibly intentional. If you have kids or have been around kids, you are very aware how little control you have over them. They often do exactly what they want, when they want, and how they want. It is easy to see how we have a lack of control.
Our lives are the same way. It may at first and in some areas seem that we have control. But ultimately we have no control. Just like with a wayward child, our life can throw unexpected and unwanted turns our way. We have no control, but we have a God who has ultimate control. This is why our anxious toil is useless. Only God has control. And that – truly – is the most comforting reality.
When the Giver Seems Late
The Giver of rest and the One who is Ruler of the world is a good God (Psalm 73:1, Luke 18:19). He can be trusted (Numbers 23:19). His steadfast love endures forever (Psalm 100:5). He thinks about His children and sees them (Genesis 16:13). In His hands is the best place for our lives to be.
But what is scary about taking rest, taking a step back and letting God rule, is what if He doesn’t come through? What if the only One who controls the outcome allows a hurtful one? What happens when rest doesn’t come? What happens when God says no to a desire we’ve prayed for?
I wish I could answer these questions. The truth is, I wrestle with these myself. Rest would be so much easier to take if I knew everything I wanted to get done would get done the way I wanted. But that’s not what God offers. He offers the gift of rest and the knowledge that His plans are good (Romans 8:28, Jeremiah 29:11).
Such faith is hard to walk in. It certainly is for me. But I echo what Peter said to Jesus when the crowds were leaving, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). The life Jesus offers is not easy, it’s not perfect, there are difficulties (John 16:33). But the life He offers is just that, abundant life. No where else can we find such joy, such peace, such steadfastness in the midst of chaos. No one else can overwhelm us with love in the midst of the overwhelming stressors of life.
Take the gift of rest, not because it’s easy, or because it’ll make things better. But because it’s offered by a trustworthy God who holds your life in His hands.
Resources
- “Not in a Hurry” by Will Reagan, United Pursuit
- Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
- Emotionally Healthy Discipleship by Peter Scazzero
- Psalm 127
Overwhelmed 