Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.

(Psalm 127:1-2 NLT)

Today, on the final day of this devotional, I want to encourage you to slow down.

Your job and place of work may be incredibly important and necessary for the function of humanity and society but please allow me to say this – nothing is more important than the work the Lord does.

By this I mean that, if you are struggling through, working every hour that God sends whilst neglecting the ‘work’ of rest, you have missed something.

As today’s scripture clearly tells us, it is the Lord’s work that truly matters. If He is not in it, we are wasting our time.

So, today, I want to encourage you to look at your working diary and commit it to the Lord.

Ask Him, ‘do I have a healthy work/life balance Lord?’

If the answer is yes, then excellent! But if the answer is no, allow that gentle chiding to correct your course.

If God gives rest to those He loves, take it!

We have been given 6 days in the week to work and 1 whole day to rest, so take it!

I understand that some people have to work more than others top make ends meet but may I suggest that – if you take your working calendar to the Father and genuinely ask Him to direct your working patterns and rhythms, He may ask you to give up a day or 2 in favour of a more balanced work/life existence.

The goal would then be to trust Him to provide for you in the shortfall.

I have had seasons where, for one reason or another, I have been unable to work to the fullest capacity of the week. And God has provided for me! He has come through every single time. Some may judge the fact that I don’t work all the hours of the day and night, but God knows my heart, my capacity and my timetable better than anyone else.

I hope that today gives you permission to slow down, relax your hand of control a little and give the reins to God. He is faithful, He loves you and He can be trusted with your working and resting.

God bless you.

If you have enjoyed this devotional, you can find more from CBN UK here: www.cbn.uk/devo .