Do not grow weary in doing good…

Can I blame age for my lack of ambition? The body isn’t as strong now so that is a good excuse for those activities that require physical strength. I’d rather nap than exercise, watch a game on television than do the dishes, wear wrinkled clothes than iron them. Many times during the day I find myself doing chores out of sheer will power than any desire. Most of the time, once I get started it isn’t as challenging as my thoughts made it.

This stage, if it is a stage, is new for me. I’ve always been an eager worker. One summer I dug a hillside beside our house and made it a series of steps. This was hard physical work and turned out well. I’ve made king-size quilts and now view that similar to constructing a four-man tent. This decline in ambition bothers me, not the aging part but the attitude of resentment toward doing what needs to be done, or should be done.

It hits spiritual responsibilities too. No one person can do all that the Bible calls Christians to do, but I’m often shirking even those things that God puts on my plate. I’m too tired or I have easier tasks and put the more important at the bottom of the list.

A few principles come to mind. One is when Moses led a battle. His army won as long as he held up his hands…

But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. (Exodus 17:12)

When his hands dropped, the army started to lose, but as others supported their leader, they won the battle. This says much about the importance of Christian fellowship and the need to be supported. Don’t be a loner, and I tend to like be alone, but this is not always the best choice.

In another OT narrative, David was being attacked by his son. The son’s advisor said…

I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king, (2 Samuel 17:2)

This is a spiritual warfare principle: the enemy goes after God’s people when we get weary and discouraged. Sometimes more sleep is the issue, yet in this story God sent another advisor with a different plan that sounded good but led to David’s victory.

I need to be alert. Fatigue and feeling discouraged is to be vulnerable, yet the answer is not always in being rested — it is in trusting God to get me where I need to be and with the energy I need to have, just as the psalmist did:

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1)

One friend says the next verses are about spiritual weariness, not physical, yet it seems to me they are partners that require the same solution:

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28–31)

God also says: “I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.” (Jeremiah 31:25) and “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9) and “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” (Hebrews 12:3)

PRAY: Jesus, forgive me for turning my mind toward how I feel instead of toward You. Your grace is sufficient. I may get tired, but You are enough and You always supply whatever I need for whatever You want me to be and do. Give me wisdom so I don’t try to do too much for me, but rely on You for whatever you put on my to-do list.

Protection from being overwhelmed

 

Yesterday someone told me that everyone she talks to is overwhelmed. I nodded for I was feeling like that also. My to-do list was too big and interruptions added to my stress. For the psalmist, it was persecution. For others it is concerns in family and friends. Many things can make us feel unable to go on, or wanting to run away:

My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; (Psalm 55:4–6)

For me, I want to dump the list and read a book or have a nap. Others say their escape is ‘clean the house’ or ‘go shopping’ but the better remark was from a person who quoted this verse:

From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. (Psalm 61:2)

This made me think about the causes of feeling overwhelmed. Obviously, it is an attack from the enemy who wants to immobilize us with discouragement and get us so battle-weary that we want to stop and run away. One biblical example is Elijah the prophet.

After a confrontation with the prophets of the god Baal, Queen Jezebel threatened to kill him and he ran for his life.

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. He ran from Mount Carmel into the wilderness of Beersheba, where he sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers’”  . . . . “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, torn down Thine altars and killed Thy prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:1–10)

Several factors caused his emotional state. The first was the victory. It was huge and important, even dramatic. That event must have filled him with elation yet he was no doubt exhausted. This is like most pastors say, the Monday after a God-blessed Sunday worship service is a wipe-out for them. I’ve noted it too, that when God does something wonderful to answer a prayer or surprise me with a great blessing, I’m often emotionally high yet totally exhausted afterwards. I need to take time to rest and be thankful.

Second, Elijah ran to Beersheba from Mount Carmel, a distance of about 95 miles. If he were not exhausted from the emotions of his victory, he would certainly be physically spent from that escape run. Filling our days with more physical work than we can handle and fatigue will be overwhelming, particularly if I add unnecessary tasks to to-do list that come from fear and are not given to me from the Lord.

Another problem for this prophet is that he thought no one cared and that he was alone in his zeal for the Lord. Looking at church problems, the successes of the enemy, and the worldliness that seems to be seeping into the Kingdom will do that if I’m not determined to seek out good news. My prayer lists alone can make me feel overwhelmed. The only way to lift that load is praying with faith and keeping my spiritual armor on, including the helmet of salvation. I also need to connect with others who are faithful to the Lord.

His helmet is my confidence in God’s blessings. For a time after his great victory, Elijah became emotionally, physically, and spiritually spent, and overwhelmed with self-pity as he felt utterly alone. At this, God gave him instructions about what to do next, then told him: “Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18)

This was the Lord’s way of urging this man to put on “the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17) and get back in the battle. He needed to know that God had not abandoned him, then focus on what’s next, because that “helmet of salvation” was his protection from despair.

PRAY: Jesus, thank You for reminding me repeatedly that all I have in You is enough. You will never leave me or forsake me, and all Your purposes will be accomplished in my life, even in the trials that come. (Hebrews 13:5 and Romans 8:28) Your character never changes and Your promises are irrevocable!

PONDER: When I feel overwhelmed, check what I do or overdo that adds to the problem. Also read and rely on God’s promises in Isaiah 40:29–31 and Galatians 6:9.

 

 

God’s prescription for burn out

The last few days all I’ve wanted to do is sleep. During the past few weeks, people warned me to take care of me as I take care of others, but I thought I was. However, I was wrong. I am very tired and even discouraged.

Even though I think that I know what to do, I asked God to give me a Word that would confirm what He prescribes. No surprise that today’s devotional is about a major cause of burn out. It is losing the ability to withstand hardship or stress because it seems pointless. God is not doing anything; nothing is happening. However, He says otherwise . . .

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10)

He says “Be still, and know” who He is, and then wait for it. Chambers says tenacity goes beyond endurance because it is combined with an absolute assurance that what I am looking for is going to happen because God said so. Hanging in there is the supreme effort of refusing to believe that my hero is going to be conquered. Jesus will win. The things He stands for — love, justice, forgiveness, and goodness — will win out in the end, even if right now it seems all of that has been pushed aside in a world full of hate, injustice, and evil. In all that I experience (or do not experience) I can never forget that God is still on His throne and in the end, Jesus wins.

But Chambers also says that my hopes are being disappointed just now because God is purifying them. He is allowing me to experience the strain of waiting for Him. This will develop spiritual tenacity. Honestly, I’d rather not learn this lesson, yet must admit that being impatient, discouraged, burned out, and feeling hopeless is worse than His purifying process.

So I looked up some verses about patience. In the Bible, it is steadfast endurance, or “the power to withstand hardship or stress; especially the inward fortitude necessary” and is always about waiting for something that I cannot yet see. God has a Word for me on this also . . . 

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:25)

As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. (James 5:10–11)

May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (Colossians 1:11–12)

Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. (Revelation 3:10–11)

How can a person withstand in the waiting? What will keep me from losing hope? How can I keep going without burning out? Oddly enough, enduring strength comes from waiting . . .

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:29–31)

Endurance comes from keeping my eyes on Jesus and looking forward to what is coming later rather than looking only at what is happening right now. My problems and discouragements are not so bad . . .

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:3–4)

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

The most important aspect of waiting on God is spending time with Him. This is not necessarily about taking my list of “I wants” to Him, but more about listening to His reaffirming voice as He speaks to me and affirming in praise what I know is true about Him. Be still, and know that He is God!