Trust God and Chill

Relaxing is not something that comes easy to me. I am always on the move, I am always saying yes to things that I have no time for. Often times, even when I am purposefully trying to kick back, my mind is still racing with the 1,000,000 things that I know I need to get done. Last night I overheard two dudes talking about the purpose of the Sabbath and how God tells us to rest 1 day a week.  This concept is familiar to me because Pastor Jason has been pretty hard on me in the past about keeping my sabbath and making sure I find a 24 hour period where I do not work. But this was tough for me!

Years ago, there was this song that came out by Casting Crowns called, “American Dream.” The song talks about a man who “pours all he has in a castle made with sand.” They describe someone who is living to work, someone who works and works and misses out on the joys of life. This song was produced in 2003, but I think this practice has gotten even worse by 2019. While it’s amazing that technology allows us to be able to work from home it can be a curse as well. How often do you feel like you never leave work because the emails don’t stop, or your next off day is circled on your calendar because you can’t wait to get to that next break? When we allow tasks to consume our lives we lose sight of other things that matter and ultimately are lacking trust in God.
 

“When we allow tasks to consume our lives we lose sight of other things that matter and ultimately are lacking trust in God.”

In Deuteronomy 5:12-15, God says “But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.” THIS IS ONE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. But for some of us, when we think about all we have to do in a given week, it is hard to comprehend taking a day off!

It makes no sense! God why would I not work on the seventh day, there is money to be made, there are deadlines that I have to meet! Naturally, when we are told to do something we sinfully just don’t listen, we usually ask the question “Why?” This was me, I was asking God why, what do I gain by taking a day off from work and school? While I knew that I should obey this commandment because God said so, I still wanted to know how this could possibly benefit me!

On top of the scripture that supports that Sabbath, I found the answer to that question while I was scrolling through my Instagram feed. I came across this clothing company who was selling apparel with the saying “Trust God and Chill.” This saying intrigued me, aside from me being a shopaholic and instantly purchasing a salmon sweatshirt and camo hat, I realized that if I trust that God is good, all knowing, and has my best interest in mind I don’t need to know the answer to every question; I simply need to “Trust God and Chill.” For me, this all came down to the fact that I can be a control freak and I don’t like trusting others to do what I feel the need to do! I got trust issues! Something tells me that I am not the only one that struggles to trust God sometimes.

We as believers need to understand that we serve a God who knows the answer to every question and He knows the result of every situation. The Bible says in Psalm 147: 5, “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.” When we put God first in our lives, we obey Him first. Which means that we take a sabbath because we trust that God is not asking us to do more than we can do in a 6 day week. Someone might read that and say, “I’ve got 100 things going on each day, I need every waking second to get it done!” My response would be, Are you doing too much? Are you doing more than God is asking you to do? In my times of peak stress, I am usually relying on my own strength! When I feel like I need to do it all, I am not relying on God and trusting in Him; I am trusting in myself.

“trusting in Jesus as our Lord and Savior not only gives you freedom from sin but also from the weight that this world will place on your shoulders.”

This doesn’t only affect your sabbath but it comes into play in all areas of life! When we surrender our lives to Jesus we are not only forgiven for our sins but we no longer do this life alone. We don’t have to know the answer to all the world’s problems because God does. We don’t need to know how our conflict at work will turn out because God does. We don’t need to put stress on ourselves to impress because we have an audience of One. There is freedom in surrender, trusting in Jesus as our Lord and Savior not only gives you freedom from sin but also from the weight that this world will place on your shoulders. Trusting God in your time management, your finances, your work situation will lead to peace in your life. There is a comfort when handing over our lives to Him and we Trust God and Chill.