Learning To Take a Break

In review of Psalm 127:2 it says, “It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?”

Bottom Line:

It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, working your worried finger to the bone. For the Lord wants to give rest to his loved ones and care for their needs.

What this means to me:

There is not much sense in working myself to death, or being a workaholic. God intends for me to rest and trust that he will provide for my needs.

This verse in Psalm 127 deals with one of the things that demands most of my time and competes for my attention and energy. It’s learning to be one who knows when to stop working. Working like this is not what God intended, and this verse reminds me that it is in vain and will contribute to the detriment of much more important matters.

There are times when I need to “burn the midnight oil” which requires extra effort and longer time commitments. A workaholic is one who has made this a pattern in their life. The reason why the workaholic toils in vain is because he has failed to appreciate the delicate balance between the need for work and the necessity of rest. A workaholic therefore chooses to capitalize on the curse of working and thus avoids the blessings afforded by God. By working day and night I would not be able to give diligent attention to more important matters such as study in God’s Word, worship and attention to family/friends.

The Bible tells me in Mark 12:30, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength” (NLT). Another way to say this is, love God with all my talk, feelings, thinking, and acting.

God says this in Psalm 127:2, “It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?” (MSG) Personally I know I can have the tendency to be a doer with certain tasks and let it consume me. This verse reminds me that God wants me to also get proper rest. So, I may need to do less. Not less for God, but less in other areas so I’ll have more time to do what matters most.

When I became a believer, God made me a new person inside: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV). The one thing that God didn't change was my personality. God won’t necessarily slow me down, He just changes my direction.

Furthermore, God doesn't want to make me a clone of everybody else in the way that I worship, serve and love him. He wants me to serve him with my personality. Not only that, but he will strengthen my personality, not dampen it. He’s going to make me more than I’ve ever been before.

So today, I will consider my work habits and tendencies. I’ll want to make sure that I’m maintaining the proper balance between work and doing what’s important.