Oblivious?

Some people are oblivious to their own selfishness. Sometimes I am, particularly if another person does things that harm me without realizing that the harm hit hard because what they did interfered with or made nothing out of what I wanted. If another person is rude to me by saying and doing what they know and intend to hurt, that is one thing, but if they are simply wanting their own way without thinking much about it, then what do I do? And I can be the one who is oblivious and thoughtlessly hurts others.

Retaliation is not allowed. That puts a further wedge in the relationship. Besides, if that is suitable, it is up to God to take revenge. Telling them (or me) they are sinning does not work either, because that is the role of the Holy Spirit. At times, I am so blind to my own sin that I cannot see it unless He reveals it. I’m usually shocked and ashamed, but until He opens my eyes, that sinful attitude might not be part of my awareness.

When Jesus came into this world, it is certain that most of the people were ignorant of the extent of their sin. He came to the Jews, God's chosen who considered their relationship with Him as His chosen made them right about everything. Christians can assume that too. But it is not true. Otherwise there would be no need for verses like these:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:12–15)

This morning I read this prayer and then prayed it:

Lord, I’m more than a bit weary as the day begins. I feel tired, discouraged, listless, on edge, and uptight. I don’t know if I’ve tried to get too much done in too little time. I’m not sure about the spiritual warfare issues swirling about me; it could be the accuser whispering lies and condemnation. Perhaps it’s just that I’m getting older and I don’t have the same energy I used to have. It could just be the tension of life in the “already and not yet,” or maybe I’m trying to do life with too little sleep. Then again, possibly it’s just the groaning of birth pangs in my heart, so wanting to be much more like Jesus than I already am. Probably it’s all of the above. In any case, and every case, I look to you to encourage my heart and strengthen me for gospel deeds and words all this day long. I cast my care on you because I know you care for me. I pray in Jesus’ name, with thanksgiving and glad anticipation. Amen.

These words were written more than a decade ago, in another country, by a person I don’t know who is a pastor. He does not know me, but expressed exactly how I feel today, except that he is blaming himself rather than the actions of others. Yet it soothes my heart to know that others wake up the same way and have the same temptations. His words end by telling me that the answer is never a pity-party but alway looking to Jesus and casting my care on Him.

The Colossians passage is God speaking from the same source. He tells me that whether the other person is aware or oblivious, my task is to forgive, be kind, and patient, and remember that we are all fighting sin — and are in varying stages of realizing what our battles are all about. I need less frustration and far more compassion for others. 

PRAY: These verses quoted by the same author are what I need to say to You, Jesus. You are my Lord Jesus Christ, God and my Father. You love me and give me eternal comfort and good hope through grace. Comfort my heart and establish it in every good work and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:16–17) And work in those who seem oblivious to their selfishness as I often am. Bring unity to our hearts. Amen. 

Tired on Tuesday. . . .

After a good day of worship and rest, Monday usually is a day of energy and accomplishment. Yesterday was like that, but then there is Tuesday, often a day of being sleepy and wanting to nap all day. I need this reminder:

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)

This is a favorite passage, even before the years multiplied and I’m now a wobbly part of the generation now dubbed the “Silent Generation” born between 1925 and 1945. While seldom silent, I am often feeling without might, weary and exhausted. It reminds me that the Lord is here for me, even in my fatigue. He will renew my energy when renewal is needed.

God does not get tired. He does not have the limitations that I have, or even those weaknesses that sometimes hit young people as they try to run on empty. This era of being too busy has gripped us, particularly because technology and modern life are filled with so many opportunities that making a decision about what to do next, or what to do period, becomes a confusing and long list.

What is it about aging that adds to that? I once was able to do the physical chores in our home and in the yard, work at hobbies and interests, spend time with friends, do the shopping, and stay up late — all on the same day. Not anymore. Slow and steady? Sometimes only on Mondays. When I pray using this passage, soaring like an eagle isn’t part of what I would like. I’m content when the Lord renews my attitude, keeps me focused, and gives me the energy needed for the necessary tasks — and for the interruptions.

These verses also remind me that Jesus experienced all of this in Gethsemane. He bore the burden of all sin, a weight that is beyond my imagination. He sweat blood as He bowed before His Father and said, “Not my will but Thine be done.” When His physical and mental anguish come to mind, I’m ashamed of my pity-parties and complaints. And then I realize afresh that He, this suffering Savior, also promises sufficient grace every day. He gives me all the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical energy I’ll need to live out whatever He asks of me, like Monday, like Tuesday, like every day. I may feel depleted, but He asks no more than whatever He plans for me and will supply whatever is needed to do it.

PRAY: Jesus, You embraced the ultimate weakness and weariness of the cross. Your love bore all my burdens. I get weary yet You supply all my needs according to Your riches and Your great love. I can thrive in that love and nothing can separate me from it or You. Grant me all I need this frosty Tuesday. Amen.

Whatever the need, God is enough…

The night before last, I slept nine hours and woke filled with energy. Even so, I prayed for the Lord’s strength for the day and finished well, praising Him. Last night, I didn’t sleep well. The tasks of moving and fitting furniture in new spaces kept running through my head. I woke tired and wanted to go back to sleep, but those tasks will not get done all by themselves.

Again, I’m praying for God’s strength, yet realize I need an attitude fix. Does having His energy only happen when I’m well rested? Or is it more than that? Can being well rested mean I’m working in my own strength? This fatigue may be one of God’s teaching moments, and for me, a big lesson in how He works. First He invites me…

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)

These speak of two words for burden or labor. One is about a heavy load — like boxes of books or dishes, and those big bins of fabric. The other is those light boxes — but they are few and still require a trip up a flight of stairs.

It would be nice if a few friends with muscles and time to spare dropped by to help. That would be a welcome illustration of His easy yoke. But is the application of this invitation not so much the ease in the physical stress of moving, but the feeling of being overwhelmed with so much to do?

I recall the story of the child who would not sit down in the back seat of the family car. After much effort, mom got the child to sit but he said, “I’m still standing up on the inside.” This opens my understanding. Could I go through the motions of not complaining with words, yet still be “whining on the inside” as I do what is difficult? These words from Jesus are an answer…

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4–5)

The fruit He is talking about is fruit that only His Spirit can produce. Even if I am not verbal with my inner attitude, when I am not abiding in Christ I cannot be bearing His fruit either. It must come from the heart, the inner person of the Holy Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22–23)

While producing fruit drains energy from the tree, this fruit comes from a Source whose energy and power have no end. The branch may become fatigued, but again, rest is also promised. You provide rest for my soul — my mind, will, and emotions even as my body is tired.

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

PRAY: Lord, again I pray for a Spirit-filled day, not based so much on this need for bodily or emotional energy, but more based on my desire to glorify You and to demonstrate, as You allow it, that You are always God — who is enough.

Later: As soon as these words were recorded and prayed over, that tiredness vanished. Again, God is always enough.

 

Why do I get tired?

Why do I feel so energetic when the Lord gives me joy? Is there a connection between joy and physical vigor? Nehemiah wrote that there is:

“Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10, italics mine)

My next question is related: is there a connection between grumbling and fatigue? I’ve thought that fatigue makes me crabby, but it could be the other way around. Tozer prompted these questions as he started today’s devotional with this verse:

“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11)

This verse is talking about new life from God. Tozer uses it to say that Jesus didn’t seem to become as weary as we do because He was completely possessed by the Holy Spirit. As fully man He did get tired but the strain and the exhaustion of an extremely busy life were spared Him because He was constantly filled with the Holy Spirit . . .  

“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” (Acts 10:38)

His ministry was exhausting and even impossible ministry for an ordinary person. John described this way:

“Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30–31)

As I think of Jesus’ ministry and compare it to what people do and how tired we get, this passage popped into my mind:

“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)

I also wondered about the New Testament word for ‘power’ so found this definition: possession of controlling influence; often understood as manifesting influence over reality in a supernatural manner. This definitely describes the power of Jesus as He went about doing good. However, it also describes the renewing power given by the Holy Spirit when we rely on Jesus who said:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28–29)

I’ve previously felt that rest for the soul is not the same as rest for the body, yet now see the connection. When I am at rest and joyful, I’ve much more energy than when I’m agitated and grumpy.

Tozer says, “It is possible to work far beyond the normal strength of the human constitution and yet experience little or no fatigue because the energy for the work has been provided, not by the burning up of human tissue, but by the indwelling Spirit of power.”

He adds that this has been experience by a few unusual souls, and the pity is that they are unusual.

Yesterday I wrote about the little things that come between me and God, realizing that the work of the Holy Spirit is blocked in me by any sort of disobedience or saying NO to Him. That being true, it is little wonder that His power is limited by my self-rule, as is His peace and joy. When I get tired, I need to make sure that fatigue is warranted and not the result of trying to do things in my own strength.

^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, this is a profound truth that I need to meditate on and to take note — take note of how much I block You from giving me the energy needed for each day, and make sure that for each thing I do, I am relying on You.

Spiritual Exhaustion

Most pastors take Monday as their day off. Physical fatigue is part of it, but the biggest reason is spiritual exhaustion. This is an odd thing about serving others. It doesn’t matter if it is preaching, teaching, encouraging, working in a soup kitchen, giving time and other resources, leadership, or showing compassion, the actions of genuine biblical service are rooted in the Spirit of God but at the same time exhaust the human vehicle.

It happened to the disciples, even Jesus, but not as much for Him. He knew His source of supply and was often in prayer renewing His spiritual energy. The disciples had not yet learned the need for that, but they would.

As Chambers says, the process of being “broken bread and poured-out wine” means that I will be nourishment for other souls until they learn to feed on God themselves. For this, they will drain my spiritual energy and I must continually restore my supply or soon become utterly exhausted.

Sometimes the motivation for service can betray me. That is, if I serve others out of sympathy for them, or guilt, or just to get them off my back, I will wind up with no right to say — ‘Oh Lord, I am so exhausted.’ I might get tired, but it will not be the same fatigue that comes from serving God. Jesus saved and sanctified me so He could use me. I can be exhausted for God, but must remember that both motivation and supply come from Him.

Worship can also be a service, not to other though. This is for God. As in the Old Testament, singers and dancers alike will say, “All my springs are in you.” (Psalm 87:7) That is, every expression of devotion and joy is from the Lord.

Also, all spiritual fruit also comes from Him . . . “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” (Isaiah 12:3) And I have learned that fruit-bearing will make me feel drained, even though love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control come from the Holy Spirit and not from me. (Galatians 5:22–23) I’ve also noticed that when Jesus invited people to come to Him that they might find rest, it was “rest for your souls” — He was not guaranteeing rest for our bodies.

Renewal of spiritual energy requires spending time with the Lord in His Word, but especially in prayer. Jesus went often to a place of prayer. So also have those known as the most energetic of His servants. Without prayer, I don’t know who to serve or how, much less have the energy to do it.

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)

Key here are the words “they who wait for the Lord” in which ‘waiting’ means to ‘eagerly look for in hope’ — something that cannot be done if I decide to renew my strength with a nap, or extra sleep, or anything else but spending time with hopes only source!

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In these busy days of taking care of my hubby and trying to keep that to-do list short, fatigue comes easily. With a long list of responsibilities, renewal in prayer could easily slip to the bottom. However, it must not do that or I wind up wanting to sleep long hours and take several naps a day in an effort to battle fatigue, and wondering why those solutions do not work. My source of strength is Jesus. This does not mean that I can do without physical rest, but it does mean that if I neglect to draw my energy from Him, I will faint and be weary.

Passing it on and yet pressing on

2 Samuel 20:1–21:22, 2 Peter 3:14–18, Psalm 146:1–10

Yesterday I was asked to mentor high school students. My first thought was that there is too large a gap between them and me, not just the age difference, but in the way we think. For instance, I would rather talk than text, rarely use social media, and my favorite music would raise their eyebrows. The main thing we would have in common is that as Christians, we both war with the same spiritual enemies.

That request prompted a different perspective to today’s OT reading than I might have had. It reminded me of how God wants us older people to pass the torch. In yet another war between the Philistines and Israel, David went down with his army. They fought together against the Philistines, but David grew weary.

I know the feeling. For the past couple of days, I’ve felt like ‘retiring’ from this business of being a Christian.  Figuring out the will of God so I can serve Him seems like too much work. I’m getting weary.

However, in the reading God didn’t tell David to press on as I may have expected. Instead, He used the men David had trained to do the fighting for him. When one of the descendants of the giants (like Goliath) thought to kill David, “Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him.” Then David’s men swore to him, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.” It was okay for David to take a break. He did not have to keep on.

But that didn’t stop the enemy. After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. A warrior named Sibbecai struck down another descendant of the giants. Then Elhanan from Bethlehem struck down Goliath the Gittite. The war went to Gath where another huge man also descended from the giants began to taunt Israel. Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down. These gigantic enemies fell by the hand of David’s men, people he had trained. (2 Samuel 21:15–22)

The Word of God stresses the importance of mentoring the next generation. Not only do they need to be equipped to deal with attacks against their spiritual lives, but also encouraged to obey God. So do I need that kind of encouragement. Peter gives the reason why and exhorts me to always keep growing . . .

“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:17–18)

No matter how weary I am, obedience and continuing to grow spiritually are still important.

The reading from the psalms stresses an important perspective when I feel too tired to go on; some of the verses point to the eternal aspect of following Christ. That is, this does not end. There is no retirement for Christians, no permission to disobey or to stop growing in my faith. That is reserved for matters of this world, not eternal matters.

“Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever.” (Psalm 146:3–6)

The average person makes plans, yet death ends all that. However, those who worship God know that life goes on forever with Him. I am bound to the Living God for eternity. Whatever I do in this life in obedience to Him will last, not go to a grave and stay there. This is motivation . . . even though I am still very weary.