Today's Devotional

June 30, 2003

Subject:  Work Or Rest?

Proverbs 10:5 - "He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame."

Admittedly, one probably needs more than the customary 5 hours of sleep I get each night but for some 10 or 11 hours is way too much.  Why?  Because for believers, there is a harvest taking place in the world and we're sleeping through it.

It's quite easy for us to catch ourselves having the Saturday morning sleep-in after a long week of work or school, but when that becomes our Monday through Friday routine also, we're entering the realm of laziness and slothfulness as the world simply passes us by.  Parents spend most of their child-rearing years trying to prevent their children from staying up late and sleeping late.  If the teaching is rejected, you find children who fail to understand the significance of working while work should be taking place.

See the key point is that the harvest only happens at a certain "season."  The biggest part of productivity is knowing when to rest and when to work.  As John 9:4 says, "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." 

There are times of rest in our lives when God by His hand will slow us down to allow us to catch our breath.  If you're in a time of His rest then do that, but know that it's not rest for rest's sake.  It's to prepare you for the coming work of the harvest.

Carlen