Unplug & Rest in Him
by David Wright
Traveling to a Moroccan film location early one morning, Scottish actor Sean Connery, along with his driver, observed a Moroccan man walking along the road in the opposite direction with a heavy basket load of wood on his head. Not giving it much thought they continued to the movie set for a day of filming The Man Who Would Be King. After a 10-hour day of filming, Connery and his driver hit the road for a 90-minute drive to his lodging accommodation. As they drove, once again they saw the same Moroccan gentleman with his heavy load continuing his journey. Connery asked his driver, “Please stop and offer this man a ride to wherever he is heading! He must be exhausted.” The driver exited the car and spoke with the man, all the while the load of wood remaining on the head of the Moroccan. After several minutes of observing an animated conversation, Connery got out of his car to extend a personal invitation for the ride.
“What’s the holdup?” asked Connery of his driver. “Doesn’t he want a ride? We can place his load of wood in the back of the car.” His driver responded, “He has said no, though he is grateful for the offer. It seems he has planned out this trip, it’s his routine. And he doesn’t know what he would do with the enormous amount of time he would save!”
The Moroccan man spent five days walking to and from his delivery destination for the wood. He had a routine, a rhythm that even the offer from someone else to carry his load was not the rest or relief he was willing to embrace.
How about us? Do we stop? Do we rest? Have we been intentional about having margins of rest in our days, our weeks, our lives? Where and when do we find rest? Speaking only for myself, there have been too many times that rest escaped me until I was exhausted from my work, my activities, and the commitments I made. Our work, our families, and our activities are important. But the Word of God speaks of rest between 400-500 times. A life with a rhythm of rest lived by us must be important to Him. And it should be to us
The first time rest is spoken of in the Bible is Genesis 2:2-3, when God, the Creator of all things good, rested. Was He tired? No, but like a good father, our Lord provided an example to follow. In Exodus 20:8-10 God commands the Israelites to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus invites all who are weary to find rest in Him. In Hebrews 4:9-11 we are told there remains a Sabbath-rest for God’s people. And of course, Psalm 23:2-3 reminds us that God leads His people to rest in green pastures and beside still waters.
Why do we allow ourselves to become so tired, worn-out, or frazzled? We have our planners, we have our diaries, we have one another, and we have God’s Word to remind us to rest in Him. Utilizing those resources, we should plan our times of rest and develop a routine that includes times of respite.
A few years ago, I was in the Denver airport dashing to make my connecting flight home. There was quite a distance from my arrival gate to my departure gate to Indianapolis. It had been a long, though rewarding, couple of weeks of hard work (long days and short nights). I was exhausted and the immediate rest that I desired was simply an empty aisle seat on that flight. There was no way I was going to miss that flight.
As I scampered through the terminal, I was bumped into as I also bumped into others along the way. Arriving at my gate with, surprisingly, plenty of time, I sat down with a sigh of relief and thought about that Moroccan man carrying literally meters of wood on his head. And I asked myself, “David, what are you going to do with all the time you just saved?”
I had rushed at the best breakneck speed a 67-year-old could muster, praying along the way that I would make my flight. With God’s help and grace, I not only made it early, I got that aisle seat.
As I sat there and prayed, giving thanks for the rest I was about to have, I thought of and prayed for those folks that either ran into me or I them and recalled most of them were talking on their phones as they moved throughout the terminal. I am no different, I confess; I spend too much time on my phone and other” time-saving devices.” So, as I prayed, I transitioned to doing what I like to do when I rest and that is writing lyrics. Here is what my jog through the Denver International Airport inspired:
PLUGGED IN
We're plugged into wireless
Ready to roll
Led by our smart phones
Out of control
We leave behind cookies
We're simple to track
We're missing life's moments
We won't get them back
So look up and listen
Look up and see
This world around us
Won't always be
The news is not news
Whether real or fake
It's yesterday's diary
Tomorrow's at stake
We stare at our handies, our pockets get poked
By strangers that stalk us, who friend us as folk
On sidewalks, at airports, in office, and home
Plugged in for guidance, lost as we roam.
Leaders, they tweet us,
Greet us each day.
Laughable logic
To lead us astray
Will we go viral?
It's "Likes" that we seek
Emoji approval. Shares that come cheap.
(© David Wright 2018 )
Yes indeed, let’s look up and listen. God has spoken. He has told us multiple times. Keep the Sabbath and rest. We make appointments for almost everything these days. Let’s be sure to schedule a time to rest. Psalm 48:10 tells us, “Be still and know that I am God.” This is a call to quiet oneself and recognize God’s presence and power amidst chaos and uncertainty.
Our time is a limited commodity given to us by a Loving Father, let us routinely rest in Him.
