The Trust of Sabbath

Trusting the Pause: When Rest Requires Letting Go

I’m not controlling; I simply like things done a certain way and with a certain level of quality.

Or so I tell myself.

The truth is that I — and maybe you — don’t trust others to do tasks the way we would do them. It won’t be precise enough, or as well thought-out, or as polished, or whatever. I get frustrated that others won’t do as well as I would (whether or not they actually do!).

So I struggle with the advice that says to delegate even if it takes 10x longer for someone else to do it. I struggle with the 70% Rule. After all, that’s a basement-floor C on the grading scale I know. I remember the people who got C’s. I didn’t get where I am by getting C’s.

The truth is, it doesn’t matter if someone else would do it 70% as well or 110% as well. I struggle to trust others at all — because it means the outcome isn’t in my control.

And there’s the problem.

At least one of them.

When Trust Is the Problem, Rest Suffers

In my relationship with God, I face the same struggle. I want to make sure things turn out the way I want them to. I have to lay the groundwork and build the house myself.

But remember last post? We were talking about rest. What does trust have to do with it?

When trust is a problem, rest suffers.

When I don’t see something happening, I want to ensure the outcome — to hop back on the treadmill of doing and worrying (and sometimes worrying is the doing). There’s always one more book to read, one more revision to make, one more task to finish.

Besides, I don’t want to be a burden on anyone. I want to stand on my own two feet.

Except… that isn’t how we were made.

We Were Designed for Dependence

From Genesis 1, we were designed to rely on God. We were created for dependence, not independence.

And when God began retraining His people in the desert, He built that dependence into the system:

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.’”— Exodus 16:4–5

Collect for just a day? That’s poor planning.

Yet many of us pray this weekly: “Give us today our daily bread.”

And in reality? We don’t trust God for our daily bread. I don’t trust God for that too many times.

I worry about tomorrow all the time. I worry about today.

Actually, I’m worried right now — because I’ve called my son twice and I need him to do something at our house in the next 9 minutes and 34 seconds. (No, it doesn’t involve dinner. Just cleaning up Legos.)

Rest Is a Declaration of Trust

Maybe that’s what my depression on the second day of vacation was really about: my inability to depend on God. Not just for “things” like food and clothing, but for value, reputation, and worth.

Rest isn’t just recovery; it’s a declaration — a confession that our identity isn’t rooted in what we do.

For the driven leader, a failure to rest isn’t a virtue (or even a vice; we’ve made it both). It’s an identity issue. It’s placing ourselves on the throne and informing God how things should work.

And honestly, it’s far harder to trust God than it is to put down my email.

A Leader’s Prayer

God, how do I allow You to be enough?

How do I let go of the need to prove myself,

to control every outcome,

to measure worth by output?

Teach me to rest as a daily act of faith.

Teach me to trust that what You provide — today — is enough.