The way work is set up for most of us is that we work a bunch of hours over a five to six day period and the seventh day is off, unless there is a real problem, overload, or huge deadline that we might miss. We, in most cases, can get our day of rest, that is if we choose to take it. Many of us, myself included, find some time all seven days to “do some “catch up” or take a few minutes to “get ahead of the week”. This is not all bad, but when analyzed it means that our brains are tuning into our work seven days a week and we never really give ourselves the chance to bring our minds down to a more peaceful state, if even for a day. After all of these years of working closely with others on their work and careers, I can almost smell burnout on someone. I can see it in their eyes, their mannerisms and even sometimes in the wrinkles of stress on their face. This may be because it is also so obvious to others when I personally reach that point. I can even see it in the mirror on me. The shape of my eyes change when I am tired and/or stressed. As you can imagine, it is no fun to know that you are stressed, but then to see it, and still not be able to do much about it, well that just adds to the stress doesn’t it?

God modeled a day of rest of all of us, and then established that day of rest as a day of sabbath for us to turn our attention away from the world around us and turn our mind to Him. He even laid out in Leviticus 25 a “Sabbath Year” every seven years. For those who enjoy a “sabbatical” period in their jobs, they can thank God, Moses and the Israelites for this. God asks us to rest in our lives and to put some time for Him in between the daily work that He has given us to do. He wants us to be refreshed and ready for the next challenges ahead of us. If we are exhausted, stressed, beaten down, we cannot be ready for the next obstacle we will face. It may be that God is calling you to be thinking about how much rest you are getting. Is He telling you in other ways that you are reaching a “redline” on your life tachometer? If you sense it, feel it, hear a voice inside you or from a friend, loved one, or co-worker, that it may be time to get some rest, take heed of those words. God needs you refreshed, strong and ready for the work that He wants to do through you in your job. Maybe this week is the week to start planning towards using this coming Sunday as a true Sabbath day of rest.

Reference: Leviticus 25 (New Living Testament)