Work Without Rest
Work Without Rest is Unsustainable
Have you ever woken up after a long night of sleep, positive that you plugged your phone in the night before to ensure a full charge in the morning, only to find that in your exhaustion, you didn’t plug it in all the way and you are now starting your day with low battery? The phone is now moving sluggishly, apps might be crashing, and you are constantly getting a notification that you have lower and lower battery? What a frustrating way to start the day! Without giving your phone what it needs to recharge, it cannot sustain itself and will eventually shut down altogether. There are countless examples in life where this is the case. Our cars will shut down without gas and proper maintenance. Our gardens will die without seasons of pausing on planting so the soil can settle and regenerate the nutrients needed for plants to thrive. Without rest days in between challenging workouts, our bodies are unable to perform at maximum capacity. Rest and renewal are essential components of reaching God-given potential in all arenas of life.
I imagine God had every understanding of the burdens that life as a human would entail as He was making us in this world. This knowingness shows up all throughout scripture. A classic verse that points to this is Isaiah 40:31 - “But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” God already knows that our humanness means that we will grow weary. It is a natural part of being created, not the Creator. We are also given instructions of how to renew our strength - waiting on the Lord, being patient in His timing, and submitting our humanness to Him as the source of all might, power, and sustainability. Essentially, I hear this as putting ourselves, our hearts, our souls, our fears, anxieties, our essence on the proverbial charger of God’s outpouring of all that is good. If we never make time and space to pause our work and the relentlessness of our lives, there will not be enough time to sit and wait to be recharged. It’s not a surprise that so often we end up feeling just like our uncharged phones when we don’t leave enough space to wait on God - soulfully sluggish, unable to maintain focus on what’s important, crashing physically and emotionally, shutting down across the board.
Our work can never be its best without leaning into the rest only God can provide since He is the Creator of what rest is supposed to look like. We are better, therefore our output is better, when we are filled by and connected to the Lord. Let us also hold in mind - Isaiah reminds us to wait on the Lord to renew our strength. This instruction has nothing to do with earning rest, working enough to justify pausing for renewal, making enough money to buy what society tells us is restful. None of that. We are simply told to wait, and I would add, breathe, contemplate, meditate, quiet, pause, listen, take a Sabbatical, honor Sabbath as a regular practice, connect and reconnect again and again to our Maker and Molder. That space is where we find the truest truths about who we are as children of God and can access our vocational callings in their most authentic forms. It’s hard to imagine a deeper correlation between rest and work than that.
Jumping forward to the NT, this sentiment is echoed even more personally and profoundly as Jesus explains in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” This invitation can feel like a simultaneous relief and something unattainable at times. “Doesn’t Jesus know that I have deadlines to meet, kids to take care of and get to bed at a reasonable time, a dog that needs walking, and a carpet to vacuum? My soul is definitely weary but I have to push on - no time for rest or to swap out yokes with Jesus!” I imagine I am not the only one who has experienced an inner dialogue like this on a regular basis. However, Jesus’s invitation is a sweet and humble offering of relief at its deepest level. Relief and hustling can never exist in the same space, nor is hustling what our Lord wants for us. He wants us to share the burden with Him and more often than not, give it to Him entirely. We are not excused from a life of working diligently, but our souls don’t need to carry the weight of the world. That is reserved for the One who is strong enough now and forever to hold it all. Rest and relief are gift offerings from God and it doesn’t do anyone any good to refuse them or falsely believe that we are powerful enough to hold everything on our own.
We show up as our best, most God-honoring selves when we have full cups and relieved souls. We can love others better. We can be more present with the people around us. We have an increase in capacity to serve and be served. We work better, smarter, and more effectively when we care for ourselves by staying connected to the strength of the Lord. Praise God for His divine intervention at the beginning of time to know that while we were made in His image, we were never meant to absorb the weight, intensity, and gravity of all life has to offer. As His children, we are free to release ourselves from being God, trying to manage and control what’s around us and instead, trust and rest in the truth of His love, holiness, presence, and renewing strength.
Thanks to Laurie Carmichael for guest writing this week.