are you weary?
Have you ever felt weary?
Whether in parenting, marriage, work, your walk with Jesus, friendship, or service to others?
Weary….completely exhausted?
I sure have and at times, this feeling of weariness can resurface.
It Can Be All Around Us
What about in your friendships?
Are you drained from pouring out to the many friends around you who seem to have such great needs? Does it seem as one friend begins to walk out of a hard time, you watch another one fall and needs amount, waiting to be filled? Does it sometime seem like an uneven balance of pouring out to many while you are being “filled up” by few?
What about your walk with Jesus?
Are there time where following Him can seem exhausting? Would it be easier to live without intentionally pursuing Jesus? Are you worn out from the attacks of the enemy? Would it be “enough” if we just attend church and serve here and there, but back away from being on the “front lines” of our walk of faith? Perhaps the enemy would leave me alone then?
What about your marriage?
Is this a place where you feel built up or torn down? Do you feel tired of the cycle of being misunderstood? Do little disagreements quickly escalate into greater divisions? Does it seem you are the one who comes to your spouse more often seeking forgiveness and restoration? Does the role of “encourager” leave you weary?
Perhaps you feel like you are the one with the “issues”.
How can my spouse possibly enjoy being married to me when I carry all this baggage or struggle with certain sins or attitudes? Do they still find joy in my presence, or do they feel trapped?
In parenting, do you have days where you feel you just “jump” from one child to the next in the area of disciplining? Do you feel like you lack seeing any lasting fruit from the time you invest as you pursue targeting their hearts? Is all the effort is really worth it? Why does it feel like many of the conversations with them seem like they are on repeat, maybe even a “five minute ago” repeat?
We even sing this weariness during the Christmas season, “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.” (O Holy Night John Sullivan Dwight 1855).
It seems like this weariness can come and go, in various relationships and in certain seasons of our lives.
Our Options
So what do we do?
Do we just let it swallow us whole?
At times it may seem like a good option.
Do we succumb to the lies of the enemy and take the bait, believing them to be true?
We know the answer to that.
How do we effectively combat a very real problem that I would wager to say we all deal with at some time or another.
The War is Worth It!
The most effective way to battle our thoughts and feelings is with Scripture! In fact, this is our only option to renew our mind, to be reminded of His truth, for us to experience any hope of change! We have talked in past blogs of the power in Scripture
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Heb 4:12 ESV)
There is great power in the Word! We must use this as one of our greatest weapons!
Our Creator, He knows us! He made us! He recognizes our weaknesses.
In fact He speaks to us in our tendency to grow weary. “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Gal 6:9)
I have to recite this verse often, especially in the area of being diligent in talking through discipline and heart issues with my children. Often times it can be more appealing to just breeze right past and not address the deeper issue.
Heart level discipline requires time, often in larger amounts than I, in my flesh, want to invest. I have a choice-do I choose myself and my preference? Or do I recognize a gift that the Lord is offering me to target hearts, to speak His words of truth over the hearts of my children and often times myself?
I am reminded of the Scripture in Deuteronomy 7:9-10 “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.”
Let this promise encourage our hearts! Not only does our obedience to His word yield blessing for us, but also our children and the generations to come. Talk about breathing life into our souls! How encouraging it can be to know that our obedience today, even the smallest act, can have lasting impact in the lives of the generations we may never even get to meet. Our God is faithful! These are not just empty words, but promises!
Verses On Repeat
There are many times I have to stop, and ask Him to allow my heart to grab hold of this truth found in Galatians 6:9. Asking Him to remake me through His Holy Spirit. His Spirit is dwelling right inside me; it has the power to enable me to desire to do His will over mine. I have to continually ask for that transforming of my heart and mind.
King David wrestled with similar issues. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Ps 51:10 ESV) That clean heart and right spirit seems to be a universal struggle!
Be encouraged!
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6 ESV) In our cries of desperation, I believe we are in a most humble states, and we have this assurance of His help, His grace!
So this weariness, this wrestling you experience, it is not new.
“All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, See this is new? It has been already in the ages before us.” (Ecc 1: 8-10)
Why is this race of endurance such a struggle? I would offer that it is a direct attack from the enemy. If he can discourage us in any area of our life, if he can shift our eyes from the “author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2), or keep us from striving to pursue knowing Jesus more and more each day, than he has succeeded.
When our eyes are taken off of Jesus, than the enemy has achieved his purpose and goal.
If our eyes are off Jesus, they are on something else and we become distracted. When we are distracted, we are right where Satan would have us to be, ineffective for God’s kingdom and purposes.
Reshifting Our Focus
Do you know what weariness offers?
It offers us yet another opportunity to know Jesus.
This is the lens we must view it through…
When we feel our minds filling with thoughts of “it is not worth it” or I am weary of talking to this child over and over again on the same issue, that is when we must cry out to Jesus! ( I am preaching to myself right now in this area, today!)
If I do not feel like sitting down and hearing a friend pour out her heart, when mine already feels overwhelmed and at the point of breaking, we cry out to Jesus!
When it seems like you fight more with your spouse than experience times of enjoyment, and your shoulders are heavy with this knowledge, we cry out to Jesus!
What Jesus Offers
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt 11:28-30 NIV)
Jesus clearly recognizes our tendency of weariness, to be weighed down under the weight life brings.
He offers something to us that all our hearts long for – REST!
As we work, parent, live in relationships-whether marriage or friendship or just “do life”, we are told as we seek Him and find Him to be our sole strength, He offers that “we will find rest”. (Matt 11:29)
How does that sound to you?
It sounds like the best news to me! “Yes, Lord, I want in” kind of news!
Jesus offers us Himself, in each and every one of our “weary” moments.
As believers, He offers us the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is speaking in John 14:16-17 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive Him because it doesn’t see Him or know Him. But you do know Him, because He remains with you and will be in you.”
The Spirit is responsible for speaking truth, His truth, to our hearts and mind, especially in the times where the lies of the world might seem easier to believe.
Later in John 16: 13-14 Jesus further details the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you.”
I want to encourage all of us to ask the Lord to create in us a greater awareness and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. When these times of weariness come in our lives, and they will, that His “Spirit of Truth” would remind us of truth and of where our lasting strength comes- in Him alone!
May your heart be encouraged in our moments of weariness, our Savior is standing there with outstretched arms to meet us right there!
In our weakness, and longs to give us Himself. Blessings as we come before Him, asking Him to transform our perspective on weariness from being discouraged into recognizing an opportunity to know Him more!
