Dealing with Weariness – part 1

How do you prevent yourself from becoming weary? Whilst I appreciate that each circumstance is different and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, there are some principles in Scripture that we can apply that we definitely help us, we will look at these in turn:

1. Wait on the Lord (we look at this in this post)
2. Consider Him
3. Balance
4. Serve

Wait on the Lord

Isaiah 40:28-31
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Notice here that the Bible tells us that even youths get weary, so us slightly older folk have no chance of avoiding this.

So God has promised strength for weariness, His strength for our weariness – it’s not a bad swap, is it? How do we get to this place of exchange? By waiting on the Lord.

There is no earth shattering revelation here and the solution is deceptively simple. For me, weariness happens when I have not connected with God for a while and entered that place of exchange where He gives me strength for my weariness, righteousness for my sin, grace for my works, health for my sickness and riches for my poverty. I have to wait on the Lord – not passively, but by building my hope and my trust.

We live in an action orientated society, where there is a huge emphasis on doing. We have to-do lists coming out of our ears. We have the pressure of never-ending e-mail, post-it notes stuck everywhere, and lists clued to the fridge with magnets. This is a doing society. We have to feel like we are doing something. I don’t suppose we are not that different from Martha, she was also in doing mode. But often times that doing takes the place of listening and that is where waiting on the Lord comes in.

And waiting on the Lord is exactly what Mary was doing and if we are to stop being weary, it would help us to get back to that simple place of sitting at His feet and listening to what He has to say, and let those words refresh our soul, because without that connection we very quickly become weary. Society is determined to get us into a doing state and it is no wonder people become weary quite quickly. We are in this world but we are not of it, and therefore we can work by different set of rules and our rules state: seek first the Kingdom of God.

As I said, this is not earth shattering revelation. It is deceptively simple. As one person said, “the Bible is so simple, we’ve had to have help to misunderstand it”. But whilst it is deceptively simple often we find it incredibly hard to do, but as Stephen Covey says, “we must learn to put first things first”. The first things are: just simply connecting with the living God.

In different translations the word “wait” is translated “trust” or “hope”. One of the things that happens when we become weary is we start to become dejected, and we start to lose our view of the future, as we have already discussed. In other words, we start to lose our hope. We stop hoping and start concentrating on the here and now, and often think “when will things be different?” And one of the great things about connecting with God is that He always renews your sense of hope.

In Revelation 2: 3 Jesus is talking to the church and says, “And you have persevered and have patience, and have laboured for my names sake and have not become weary.” I want you to notice the link between patience and not being weary. In the New Testament, the word patience comes from the same word that hope comes from. Patience and hope are tools that God gives us to persevere, and not to become weary.

I mentioned in my previous post the Scripture from Matthew 9:36 which talks about how Jesus had compassion on the multitudes because they were weary. So when you get into that place of connecting with God hold in mind that at that point, God has compassion on you. And out of that place of trusting in Him, allow him to rebuild your hope and give you a different picture of the future.

So my advice is simple. If you are weary, schedule some immediate time-out. Get a pen and your journal, some worship music and connect with God. Do this daily and let the peace of God wash over you and rebuild your hope. Listen to Him. He will tell you what to change. Jesus told Martha that Mary had done that one thing which was needful. Do the same. Exchange your strength with Him, and then you will run and not get weary.

Notice that last part of the verse from Isaiah:

those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

What a tremendous promise this is for us!

It comes out of this idea of not doing things in our own strength, but learning to do things in His strength – this is renewing our strength. When I am weary, it brings me great hope to know that actually, God has a different idea in mind. When I am weary, I am tired, and things happen slowly – I don’t feel that I am that effective in what I am doing. But in that state, I can know that God has a plan for me to “run”, not just crawl around at a snails pace dejected. I can do what I am doing, in His strength, with great speed and efficiency – and not get tired. It is a supernatural energy that will keep me going.

So when I wait on the Lord, I rebuild my hope and I renew my strength – which all then allow me to get back out there and run!

Do you remember the story of David and Goliath? The whole Israelite army had sat there for 40 days and did nothing but became more and more fearful about the giant. David came, and he came from a place of using God’s strength rather than his own. He knew that God would give him this giant because David was the one who had a covenant with God. David wasn’t afraid – in fact the Bible tells us that he RAN at Goliath. He ran at him.

We can wait on God just enough and get by. But then we are not too dissimilar to the rest of the world. God’s plan is always more than get by. In whatever you call and walk is with Him – you can have a supernatural energy that allows you to get more done that the average person. His strength will allow you to destroy the giants that other people fear. We can operate on the opposite side of the spectrum of weariness. God doesn’t get weary the Bible tells us. He won’t get tired. We can use His strength, and it all comes from a place of waiting on Him.

So when you wait on the Lord, you can know that you will renew your strength, He will renew your hope – and then when you come out of that place, you won’t just have the strength to get by – but enough to run at what you do and not get weary. It sounds like a good deal to me…I just have to remember to get into that place of regular connection with Him. Life is not just about doing. It is also about being.

I’ll end this post with a quote that I will always remember from Bible School: Don’t get so busy doing the work of the Lord that you forget the Lord of the work.