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Rest-imony!

“Burnout is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion. Common signs of burnout include feeling tired or drained most of the time, feeling helpless, trapped and/or defeated, feeling detached/alone in the world, having a cynical/negative outlook, self-doubt, procrastinating and taking longer to get things done and feeling overwhelmed (Mental Health UK). “Two types of people, however, are at a greater risk of burning out than everyone else: women and workers under 30.” (smith, 2023) This doesn’t mean men are safe because example in the UK 74% of all suicides involve men and this is a trend seen globally.


I was born and raised in a church where God’s Day of rest is one of the many things, we believe in. What saddens me is sometimes that’s the first thing we are known for and sometimes the only thing we are known for. I hate that we are not known first for believing in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, The power of God’s Living Word- The Bible-from Genesis to Revelation and the salvation given to us through Jesus Christ out of Gods’ love for the World i.e., every single human being without exception, so that when Jesus comes back, he will take us Home so we may have eternal life and live the original plan God had for us before those 2 people ate that fruit.


I heard a preacher on you tube call us a cult. Other people don’t know Christian Seventh Day Adventists exist. Something that shouldn’t surprise me because some years ago I found out there are Seventh Day Baptists, Sabbatarian Pentecostalists etc. If people know about Christian Seventh Day Adventists, it’s because of the don’ts. One of them is how we rest on the Sabbath day. From the creation story, God did 3 things on the 7th day. He blessed it, hallowed it and rested from all the work he had done in the other 6 days. The Excellent Book in Exodus 20:8 and other books, speak of God telling his children to rest like he did. This is why we rest and don’t work on the Sabbath. In my life I have never worked on the Sabbath and have made this known in job interviews. It’s never been a problem. Look at God!


When there is a crime and police are taking witness statements, many times the stories from the different accounts will align, sometimes they won’t. Two people can look at the same painting and have totally different perspectives. I read something powerful this week that said we are finite beings with finite minds, trying to read an infinite Book (The Excellent Book) from an Infinite God. When put that way it is so clear to see why there are many and different interpretations of the Excellent Book and thus many Christian denominations.


Even within one church there will be differences in understanding this Excellent Book. So even within my church, how people will rest on the Sabbath day can vary. Then off course there is the devil who by any means necessary is set on dividing Gods’ children. He flourishes and thrives in these situations where we don’t see eye to eye because he knows he will take our focus away from God and eternity.

From the wonderful sermons I have been listening to, I have learnt that many of us haven’t been observing the Sabbath day the way God intended. The reason I call those sermons wonderful is because they challenge me to look at things differently and challenge tradition. Every church has traditions mine is one of them. One sermon said our lives as Christians should not be about doing the right thing. Example you’ve been working in a company for 5 years, the right thing may be to apply for a senior role or move to another company. As Christians it’s about doing the God thing.


The God thing is asking him what to do, what moves to make, when to make them and going in full obedience to God and not ourselves, tradition or logic. I have learnt that there are so many things we do from a place of logic or even tradition and many times there is no Biblical base to it, which means its not a God thing. The way I’ve been keeping the Sabbath is by attending church, sometimes staying for potluck or attending church programmes, then going home to relax and chill.


Nothing wrong with that because “a study conducted by researchers from Harvard University found that deaths from despair (alcohol, drugs, or suicide) are significantly less common among healthcare workers who regularly attend religious services. Attendance at religious services at least once per week was associated with a 68% lower hazard of death from despair among women and a 33% lower hazard among men compared with never attendance” (perry, 2020).


I will be honest and say on most occasions when I went to church, my attention was divided. I could blame it on the “boring” preacher but that wouldn’t be all the way true. I would go over some of the things that had happened in the week, usually negative or that didn’t go my way. What I would say or do differently, from that I would decide that on Monday I would need to do this and that. The next thing I would hear is may be an “Amen” or people laughing and I knew I had missed something in the service because my mind was busy elsewhere. This is not keeping the Sabbath because there is no rest being kept when I go to Gods’ house and my mind is busy wandering to a place of…nowhere.


This Infinite God is also Omniscient. All the things I was worried about he knew every detail including how to fix them. Why was I not resting in him on the day he had designed for me to rest not just physically but emotionally, mentally and spiritually? Why was I worried? Why was I not able to surrender and let go when He sits on his throne? Why had I killed myself so much in the week that I could not switch off for those few hours I was hanging out with him in his house? When the children of Israel were in Egypt, they had to produce and produce and produce. When God took them out of slavery, he wanted them to stop producing because they had a God who was Producer of all Producers!


The sermon that taught me this explained a truth that happens to so many of us and that is we feel we are of more value the more we produce. This is why we kill ourselves, knowingly or unknowingly. Yet before we came into this world God already placed value in us. The Cross cemented it, so regardless of what happens to us or what we do, we always have value. Contrary to what the world says, we don’t have to work for it or earn it! It is inherently in us as Gods' children. Back to the Omniscient God. This sermon taught me we don’t even have to bombard God with the same prayers every single day. He knows! Imagine going to your parent/caregiver or friend and every time you have a conversation with them, you start by introducing your name, your age, your job title, where you live, your gender, your race and that you are a human being. Every time you meet you do this. What would they tell you?


The night before I heard that sermon, I had been on one of my long prayers. I call them panic prayer because I am all over the place, I’m not even asking properly for what I want. They’re more of a recital of what’s going wrong as opposed to a prayer of faith, thanksgiving and the belief that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. I start with one thing and even lose myself because my mind goes into what I need to do the next day and that thing I didn’t get to do, my never ending to do list, which keeps growing, then I remember I was praying, “Sorry Lord, I’m meant to be praying…”


That night and the night before I didn’t even sleep properly. This thing is not working, that thing is not working. The sermon reminded me, God KNOWS. From what we know about God, do we honestly believe he doesn’t know our needs, wants, hurts and wounds. First of all he knows our wounds better than we do. He was there the whole time and saw the whole thing, whereas for us we don’t even remember some or all of the details. I still remember my 2-day trip last month and how it showed me how God knew & understood I needed a break more than I understood I needed a break. The sermon was a reminder to just talk to him, not about my needs, just talk. I did that and I slept! It was more than sleep because I rested on the promise that he will supply every need of mine according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.


The way I’ve been praying has therefore changed in the last 5 days. If I hear someone’s situation that needs a prayer, I pray about it. If I am feeling anxious about something I pray about it. My focus is now just talking to God and asking him questions like “aki God, what was Adam telling you when you used to talk together?” “What’s the real reason people are getting divorced.” And sometimes he will give me an answer soon as. Example I asked a question I have asked before, may be when I was a young tot “God, so who made you?” Then this answer came to me. If God needs to be made, how can he then be the Sovereign God. A statue is made, a human is made. Remember also what I said earlier, we can’t use a finite mind to understand an Infinite God. So, this question I will get an elaboration when We get Home. For now, I can live with the answer that came to me.


When I am talking to God like this, not about my issues, it is pleasingly different. Its exciting especially when he gives me insight into what I’ve asked. Its liberating because I can ask him anything, which is excellent for my very curious mind. One night I asked him a question that I’ve asked him many times before because it disturbs me time to time. The next day, the sermon I watched was about shame. There are 2 areas of my life where shame has come in. One of the areas I have managed to let go of in the last 2 years. One area I haven’t. It’s not even anything shameful or even sinful in Gods eyes, nevertheless that’s what I carry.


That sermon spoke to me because God is Omniscient, he Knows, and he Answers. So, in just talking to him, he’s now given me the wisdom to speak to one of my trusted friends and just let it out and that can be the journey of releasing that shame. This started with understanding that I need to rest in God. Talking to him will release me from things that have had me in a chokehold because God actually wants to tell us great and mighty things which we do not know. He wants to heal us and do things that eyes haven’t seen. But he can’t tell us if we spend our time, however little or much with him, telling him our name, our age, our date of birth, our parents names, our job title, our address, our gender, our race, our telephone number, our telephone network company and social media handle every chance we speak to him! We are the ones limiting ourselves from what God has for us and not God.


Resting in God is about believing and understanding he knows everything about us and he is working on it. In my view, God lives in a different dimension to us where every prayer has Already been answered, so what have we to fear, what have we to dread? For us, we live in a dimension of time where October is far from June and therefore far from full blast summer, but summer will come because God has planned for it come. He created time! It may not be how you expected it to be, Lord knows those of us in the UK have questionable summers, nevertheless we do have summer. Rest because the prayer has been answered. Rest because Gods’ plans are for good and not for evil especially when we don’t see it. FYI, we will not see it because we have finite minds. This is why the Excellent book says lean not on your understanding. It is finite!


Resting in God is about believing that if he knows how many hairs are on your head, bald or not, permed or natural, sewn or glued, he will take care of you everyday and all the way. I am changing not only the way I pray but the way I am keeping the Sabbath. I am resting not just physically but in the rest God knew all of us would need in 2023 onwards, when he created the universe all that time ago! From the beginning He knew! He knew work and life would kill us.


He intentionally put a day to rest and not just physically like I thought was what my church was telling me to do, but to rest in total surrender to him! The best way to teach someone something is to model it yourself. God modelled rest on the 7th day knowing several millennia later, his children would be struggling with things he didn’t design them to struggle with, if they only rested in him. It was so important to him, he made it a commandment, not the last one, the fourth one, right at the top.


I don’t work on Sabbath, but I write this blog on Sabbath in the spirit of doing ministry the way Jesus did ministry on the Sabbath. You may not share my belief in the Sabbath and there is so much more that I can share about it. What I want you to know and believe is this. Your rest is important to God. The only one who does not want you to rest is the one who is out to steal, kill and destroy you by any means necessary including busying yourself such that you don't have time to rest.


On that note I heard another sermon that said busyness is demonic and I see why. It takes you away from resting in God. May God help us resist the devil so he can flee and we can continue to rest in the God of All Comfort and Strength. If God will take care of you everyday knowing what you need before you know what you need, place yourself at his feet and let burnout and all its cousins, worry, anxiety, shame etc not be your testimony. Take this gift and let the peace and rest of God be your Rest-imony!



Related Verses

Genesis 2:3

Deuteronomy 5:12-15

Philippians 4:4-7

Philippians 4:19

Daniel 2:22

Jeremiah 33:3

Proverbs 3:5

Ezekiel 20:19-20

Hebrews 4:9-10

Luke 13:10-17

References

perry, w., 2020. Harvard Researchers Recognize Benefits of Church Attendance. [Online] Available at: https://www.icr.org/article/harvard-researchers-benefits-of-church-attendance#:~:text=In%20this%20cohort%20study%20of,men%20compared%20with%20never%20attendance. [Accessed 14 10 2023].

smith, m., 2023. Burnout is on the rise worldwide—and Gen Z, young millennials and women are the most stressed. [Online] Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/14/burnout-is-on-the-rise-gen-z-millennials-and-women-are-the-most-stressed.html [Accessed 14 10 2023].


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Next Post out on 21/10/2023


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