A Sabbath for Restless Planners

The Sabbath can be an interesting thing:  how a body can be at rest but a mind anything but restful. 

Can it legitimately be called a Sabbath if your mind is working overtime? 

Don’t ask me.  I am a thinker and a planner.  My mind weighs alternatives and builds cases.  I even do it in my sleep. There’s nothing wrong with planning, but there is something very wrong with a heart and mind that never rest, as a ship always sailing no matter the conditions … and never finding a port … anywhere.  A ship forever at sea is a craft in grave danger of becoming its own worst enemy.  A shipwreck waiting to happen.

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There’s a difference between a marathon runner muscling through the tough stretch to get a second wind and a person unwilling to rest.  I’m constantly aware of the danger when planner refuses to rest or to submit plans to God as a Sabbath.  A person can end up loving the work and loving the creative planning more than loving the Creator.  Loving the ministry more than the Savior.  It’s a common tale, but it doesn’t need to be that way.

Luke 12: 15 Jesus said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Ouch.  Odd to think that refusing a Sabbath is much like greed.  It’s not giving God what belongs to Him.  The Sabbath is His.  But the kicker is: He gave it for our benefit.  God reminds us in Proverbs 19: 21 Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.

The Simple Truth is that submitting our plans to God is to honor His Sabbath.  It glorifies Him as the Creator of your body and your intellect.  

Is it too much to rest from the planning one day a week to check in with the Creator and avoid shipwrecking your faith or sailing headlong into the storm? No, and it’s not too late to thank Him for the work He alone can do and to always plan with God in mind.