Work Hard, Rest Well

Leviticus 25:1-7  Click here for Bible Verses

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Leviticus 25:1-7.  Let’s go!

Leviticus 25:1-7 (NIV)
¹  The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,
²  “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD.
³  For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.
⁴  But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.
⁵  Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.
⁶  Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you–for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you,
⁷  as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.

On verses 1-7:  Here God prepares the Israelites for when they enter the promised land.  He commands the Israelites to work the land they have been given (i.e. sow the fields, prune the vineyards and gather the crops for six years) (v2-3), but in the seventh year they are to give their land a rest and to live off of what the land produces that year (v4-7).

What can we learn from this?  While we are to work hard and faithfully at the things God has called us to, God also commands us to rest.  For those of us who can be workaholics, we especially need to heed God’s command to rest.  For those of us who are lazy, we especially need to heed God’s command to work.  For all of us, we need to work hard and rest well.

Rest is so important that God put it in the 10 commandments, right up there with “do not murder” and “do not commit adultery”.  That’s because our joy, our long-term effectiveness and the quality of our relationships depend on us getting proper, regular rest.

Don’t be the kind of person who works, works, and works without stopping.  You need to rest.  If you don’t, your relationships and your spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health will suffer.  

Do you schedule regular rest for yourself so that you can be refreshed, renewed, restored and ready for the next season of work?  As Pastor Rick Warren says, it is a good habit to “divert daily, withdraw weekly, and abandon annually”.

In Leviticus 25 God called the fields to rest, and since  “you are God’s field” (1 Corinthians 3:9), you need to rest too.

Heavenly Father, thank You that You are not a workaholic and You don’t want us to be workaholics either.  You are not lazy and you also don’t want us to be lazy.  May working hard and resting well be the pattern of our lives.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN!