I was challenged by this little piece of poetry when I first heard it 35 years ago. It challenges me still.
Said the Robin to the Sparrow,
“I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.”
Said the Sparrow to the Robin,
“Why, I think that it must be
That they have no heavenly father
Such as cares for you and me.”
Author Unknown
It’s almost as if the Lord is saying to me, “I can’t pick that up until you put it down. I can’t solve that problem until you let go of it.” What is the Holy Spirit saying to me?
You don’t want to go overboard here. God expects us to do our daily work and that includes dealing with problems and challenges. With God’s guidance, there is usually something that I can do to work though a problem situation.
With that in mind, what I think God is saying to me is that I can’t ask in faith until I ask without anxiety. Worry is a form of unbelief. And the unbelief hinders God from giving me peace and from answering my prayer for solutions to the problem.
When I let go of things when I go to bed, I am trusting God to give me a peaceful nights rest and honoring Him by believing that He is going to act on my behalf.
God doesn’t need any sleep. As you’re falling asleep, ask God to work on anything that is troubling you while you rest. Peter tells us to “give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” (1 Peter 5:7 NLB)
Most of us probably know this verse, but how many of us actually do it? How much grief, stress, and anxiety have we been carrying around because we think we are too sophisticated to need to follow simple instructions?
While we should remain in an attitude of casting our cares upon the Lord all day long, there is something very special about doing it right before you fall asleep. During the day, there may actually be something that I can and should do to deal with the situation; but all that comes to an end when my head hits the pillow.
The night time is the right time to say, “God, I can’t do one single thing about this right now because I need to get some sleep. Please work on this for me while I rest, and if there is anything I need to do to handle this situation, help me to understand what that is when I wake up to face the new day.”
I recently finished one of the least restful vacations I’ve ever had. Nancy and I spent eight nights in a
For the first couple of days I was holding on by my fingernails, trusting the Lord to get me through moment by moment. Then came the weekend and the chance to apply what the Lord had taught me during my vacation.
I took a Sabbath. I told my brain to go into neutral and get some rest. After the Sabbath, I reminded myself, each night before I went to bed, to turn everything over to the Lord. And then I told my brain to get some rest. Almost immediately I went from feeling horrible to feeling fine.
It’s 10:40 p.m. as I write this. I am on a roll. Everything is flowing so beautifully. I can feel the anointing. I don’t want to quit. I have material in my mind/heart for about six more posts. Could anything be more pitiful than staying up way past your bedtime so that you can blog about getting enough rest?
It’s time to go to bed. I need my rest. I am a created being and not nearly as tough as I would like to believe I am. I’ll trust God to put me back into the flow of the anointing tomorrow evening after work.
“What about daily rest? Can I take a Sabbath every day?” Yes you can. I recommend that you spend about one third of every day taking a Sabbath rest. We call this period of the day “sleep.”
God tells us to plan our rest when it comes to the Sabbath day. Mark it on your calendar. Do it regularly. Don’t feel guilty about it. Be humble enough to admit to yourself that you need to rest.
You should do the same thing with your sleep. You should be humble enough to admit that you are not super human and that you need your sleep. You should approach your sleep with the same mental attitude that you approach your Sabbaths or your vacation.
“I’m going to rest now. I need to rest. God wants me to rest. I’m laying all of my problems aside now. I’m on vacation. I’m going to sleep.” I think you will be amazed at the difference a conscious decision to rest can make in both your days off and in the quality of your sleep. You are a problem solving machine. Your little brain is constantly simmering with ideas and struggling with problems. You need to tell yourself to turn all that off. It may take some practice at first, but in a very short time you will come to realize just how hard your mind was working and how wonderful it feels as you learn to let your mind rest.
There are wonderful promises in the word of God about supernatural peace of mind.
None of these promises will work the way they are supposed to if day after day, month after month, and year after year you ignore your need to rest.
You will be amazed at the spiritual progress you will make in the paths of peace when your finally humble yourself by admitting that you need to get your rest.
Always remember that physical rest is only half of the rest that you need. You need to take a worry holiday. Actually, we shouldn’t be worried about anything because we are praying about and trusting God for everything. But you can at least get a start on that life of peace by gentling reminding yourself that you are on Sabbath and that you are not going to think about that problem right now. You will think about it after the Sabbath is over. The only exception to this rule is if the Holy Spirit suddenly starts speaking to you and giving you wisdom about what to do. In that case you aren’t worrying about the problem, you are receiving the answer to the problem.
Remember, each Sabbath is a mini vacation. Plan to relax and on the moment when your Sabbath begins get into that “vacation” frame of mind.
If the Creator of the human body tells me that I need to rest one day in seven, then my body and my mind are designed to work at their optimal efficiency if I rest one day in seven.
It is a humbling thing to learn to rest. When I decide to rest, I am admitting to myself that I need to rest. I am acknowledging that I am not strong enough, not tough enough to go day after day after day without rest. I am acknowledging that God is way smarter than I am and that God says that I need to get some rest.
Maybe we aren’t as lazy as we think we are; maybe we are just tired and stressed out. I wonder if we really got the physical and emotional rest that God tells us that we need if we would suddenly find the energy to clean out that basement or garage (or whatever else it is we keep putting off)?
God is smarter than we are. I’ll make you a bet. If you start to rest, you will find yourself accomplishing more in six days that you used to accomplish in seven.
God tells us that we need to plan to rest. There are no specific rules that we have to follow, but one way or another, we do need our rest.
My lawn really needs to be mowed. I was too busy all week to do it. It rained all day Saturday so I couldn’t mow it. Now it’s Sunday and sunny, but this is my Sabbath. What should I do?
There are no rules and no one is allowed to act as your judge. If the weather report shows that it will rain all day Saturday but be sunny on Sunday, then I might begin my Sabbath a little early on Saturday and end it in time to mow the lawn on Sunday. Or I might wait to mow the lawn until Monday. Or I might just go ahead and mow it on Sunday. There are no rules, but there is principle: I need to get some rest. I’ll do that as best I can and somehow get the lawn taken care of and I’ll do all of it without guilt.
“Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival, a new moon, or a Sabbath day.” (Col. 2:16)
That means that you are going to have to figure this out on your own with God’s help. I am trying to learn to take Sabbaths. I am not allowed to judge you if you are not interested in taking Sabbath rests. And you are not allowed to judge me because I am trying to practice this principle.
