REST,
IMPORTANCE OF

YOU WALK around using your cell phone all day. All day talking to this person, talking to that person, and getting stuff done. But at the end of the day, if you want to use that cell phone tomorrow, you’ve got to make it lie down. You’ve got to connect it to the charger, so that it can get new energy, new power, and new strength. If you don’t make the cell phone lie down, it won’t work for you tomorrow. If you don’t force it to lie down, you will not be able to receive or send out a signal. It is absolutely critical that you make the cell phone lie down, if you want to restore the power of the battery. If you don’t make it lie down, it won’t work.

If God doesn’t make us lie down, we won’t work. We’ll expend all of our energy, all of our strength, and will try to make it work when all of our battery will be gone. We’ll still try to stay up and make it work some more. God does His best work when His children are asleep.

When we lay our cell phones down, they can’t just be put anywhere. They must be connected to the power source and charged. It is only when the cell phone is in the right place, connected to the right source, that it receives new life.761

[Power, Accessing]

Ex. 33:14; Matt. 11:28

I REMEMBER one time that I was going through the airport. I carried two pieces of luggage that were very heavy. I had sweat coming off my head, that luggage was so heavy. Someone saw me struggling and gave me a brilliant idea. They drew my attention to the fact that my luggage had wheels. I had been carrying around what I could roll around.

Now, when I started rolling the suitcases, they still weighed the same. If they had been put on the scale, they would still register the same weight, but I could carry the weight differently by using the wheels. I could carry the suitcases with me and rest and be at ease as I walked through the airport.

Jesus says, “I am your wheels. Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden … and let’s roll this baby.”762

[Jesus]

Deut. 12:10; Matt. 11:28

TWO foresters were competing against one another to see who could chop down the most trees in a day. One forester was a young guy and the other was an experienced older guy. The day of the competition, the young guy jumped up first thing and went eight hours straight chopping trees. At the end of the day, he had chopped down twenty-five trees. He knew that the older gentleman wouldn’t be able to compete. The young guy knew he was young and had more strength. In addition, the young forester thought back on the day, remembering that every hour or so the older man had taken a ten minute break. The younger guy felt more assured of his win because he hadn’t taken any breaks. At the end of the day he had done his twenty-five trees only to discover the older man had done forty. In shock he asked, “How is this possible, old man? I didn’t stop. You stopped every hour for ten minutes or so and yet you chopped down almost twice as many trees as I did. How is that possible?” The older man said, “Yeah, yeah, I understand your question. You were working hard, you were sweating you were grunting, and you were groaning. But every hour I sat down for ten minutes. I did two things.” He said, “First of all, I recovered. Secondly, I sharpened my axe. You were working hard but you were working with dull equipment.”763

[Self-Sufficiency, Danger of]

Deut. 12:10; Mark 6:31; Heb. 4:9–10