Sleep?

    Greetings to you in the name of Jesus.  Hope you all had a good weekend and restful holiday of Labor Day.  The Psalm from my devotion fits perfect with the theme of using Labor Day to rest up and relax from your labor.  Psalm 127:1-2 "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.  Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.  It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep."  My mother like most mothers will probably appreciate this psalm and this reminder that even God tells us we need sleep.  In fact, read it again, sleep is a gift that he gives to his beloved.  Lately I have been having trouble falling asleep as I lay down at nights, because I have a million things racing through my head.  Between reflecting on what I actually got accomplished that day, reviewing what I should have got done that I didn't, making mental lists of what I have to get done the next day, and then going through it all again to make sure I am not forgetting anything, I think I actually work my brain harder in bed than I do the rest of the day.  However, as I read these words from the psalm, I realized I am toiling in vain.  I am guilty of eating the bread of anxious toil.  I am stressing myself out thinking that I have to do everything.  These words remind me first of all, that I need to remember who is really at work.  It is not Kevin Richter who is going to write that perfect sermon that the people need to hear.  It is not me who is going to prepare the perfect Bible study that will educate and engage the people.  It is not me that will etc. etc. etc.  It is God working through me who does all these great things.  Now I still have work to do and cannot simply sit idly at my desk and then blame God when nothing is done, but when I forget who is really at work through my labor, it is all for nothing just as the psalmist says.  In addition, these words also remind me that sleep and rest is given to us from God to give us the strength to keep working for Him.  If we are run down and always tired, we are not as useful for Him to work through.  At the seminary we looked at it this way.  When we look at our work and God working through us, it is like a lumber jack and his ax.  The lumber jack can't cut down the tree without his ax, but the ax can't swing itself to cut down the tree.  They both have to work together to get the job done.  God is the lumber jack who does the work through us the ax.  We need Him and He works through us.  I like this analogy because it even reminds us that a sharp ax is better than a dull ax.  So when we get plenty of rest, and are constantly in His Word and prayer, we are a good sharp ax He can work much more efficiently through.  However, if we are tired, run down, neglecting devotions and prayer time, we are a dull ax that God has to work much harder to work through.  So be a good sharp ax, remember God is at work in your labor, get the rest He gives you sleeping peacefully trusting in Him, and use your time awake to be in His Word and in prayer so that you will be a sharp tool ready to get the job done through His workings.  In the name of Jesus, Amen.