Have you ever tried to get a toddler to lay down for a nap? It’s like a wrestling match every afternoon. I ended up more tired from nap time some days than I got from just letting them stay awake, but making sure they weren’t little monsters was more important than me being rested. It was a balancing act. Sometimes they woke up and just chose violence and destruction and I had to wrangle them from sun up to sun down.
I didn’t let my kids win when it came to nap time. Each time they weren’t able to get naps because of our schedule, MY life was harder. So when they became wilful about going to sleep, man was I up to the challenge. I made sure to win those battles because once you start losing, the fight gets harder. They are smart. They learn from their past wins and will wear you down because they know you will cave now. They got their stubbornness from me so I knew I had the capacity to win… even if I didn’t want to fight. They brought the fight to me and as their mom I loved them too much to fail.
As adults, we also choose to make our own lives difficult, because we are unwilling to take a nap and eat a snack when we need to and we end up behaving badly. We start cycling about how terrible our situation is and refuse to be replenished by God. We just get stuck in our mind sets and become like a dog with a bone, rehashing the same broken excuses that we just don’t have the time to take care of ourselves physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Then, when God gives us opportunities for rest and restoration, we choose to stay broken and complain that God hasn’t fixed everything yet.
I learned one of the most embarrassing tendencies that I have is to throw a fit when things don’t go my way. Maybe I’m still a toddler… I don’t like to rest. I don’t want to rest. I want to be busy doing all the things I want to get done. I hate to sit still but now with my condition, I have to rest. I am telling you, I have caused so much drama in my house since the accident. I have thrown many embarrassing tantrums trying to get someone to just let me do what I want to do, like they were the ones limiting me.
My body won’t let me push it either. When I do… I cause a scene and end up having to lay down, even if I am in the middle of the store. Nobody wants to see a grown woman on the floor. It gets them all upset. But I will push it still because I know best. This time will be different. I’m such a child sometimes.
When I start losing steam, I act like it is a conspiracy against me. Like someone said “nap” and I started running and hiding in the closet. I have too much to do. I don’t have time to go and rest.
Why can’t I just get it together and get over this? Naps are not the end of the world… Right?
I still don’t believe it but I want to believe it. I really do.
I thought I was the only one that acted like this until I met Elijah.
One day I made it to 1 Kings 19 and read my own story in Elijah and I didn’t like it. Elijah just had a huge victory when he called down fire from heaven and defeated God’s enemies but then he gets threatened by a woman and freaks out. He runs to the desert, starts cycling, and decides dying is the only option… Ya, I’m that dramatic as well. It was so painful reading myself in Elijah.
In 1 Kings 19, God shows how he is the perfect parent. After Elijah goes to the desert to die, God gives him a snack and nap… not once but twice! God then sends Elijah to God’s own mountain for a conference with Him. God gets Elijah out of his nerve-wracking environment and tries to talk through things with him but Elijah continues to cycle and chooses to hold on to the fear of man.
God then does something that I found confusing for a while, until I discovered how much rest there is in knowing that God is scarier than anything else I could ever encounter. I found true peace when He showed me that no one can control or manipulate him, not even me. I can’t force God to change his mind by whining, crying, throwing tantrums, or holding my breath. God will continue doing what He has planned, even if he has to carry me kicking and screaming.
I realized that he chose to be gentle and kind to me because I was His. He could yell but he whispers when he talks to me so He doesn’t scare me. Elijah had this moment. In a terrifying display of His power, God sent strong winds, an earthquake, and a fire, but He came to Elijah in a whisper. In this moment we see the tender care God showed Elijah when he tried to talk it out. Elijah wasn’t having it though. He chose to stick with his narrative.
God was stronger than all of Elijah’s enemies. He had no need of fearing them because no one could touch Elijah unless they had God’s permission. And yet Elijah still is done with his life. He complains that everyone else has abandoned God and he is the only one left. Oh and people are trying to kill him.
He just went through one of the most spectacular events where God reveals Himself in a way he never did for anyone else and Elijah sticks with the idea that people are scarier.
God offers restoration through food and sleep for his physical needs. Then God sends him on a vacation to the mountains to clear his head but he was steadfast in his mindset, even after God tries to talk it out with him. In the end, he is told to get his replacement ready to take over for him.
That’s what really scared me. The fact that if we are offered a snack and a nap from God, we can chose to stay unreasonable. We can decide to stay broken instead of choosing to trust Him. He may believe you and make plans to remove you from the situation. He may remove me from the situation if I don’t straighten up and fly right. It’s better if I chose to go take a nap rather than be forced to take one.
Now Elijah’s ministry didn’t stop right away. Elijah was in a way holding his breath but God didn’t let him off the hook. He still had a job to do and he wasn’t getting away from his responsibilities…. but he did anoint his successor and was phased out.
Thankfully, God can still use the broken… The thing is that he doesn’t have anyone who isn’t broken to use in the first place. We are all broken and need God’s tender care. But if God offers restoration, take it and choose to be restored. When God restores, it is amazing and what comes next (at least in my experience) has always been better than the last thing.
Sometimes all you need is for your physical needs taken care of and everything will be brighter when you wake up.
Sometimes you need to get away from the environment for a bit to clear your head and get a fresh perspective.
Sometimes you need to call a wise friend who will listen and steer you in the right direction.
Sometimes you need all three at the same time.
Take the snack. Take the nap. Don’t make God find your replacement.
