Living with Covid has made life challenging and as a result we are living in constant flux. The reality is none of us knows when we will be through to the other side of this challenge and what challenges that may still lie ahead.
Many people are feeling tired and weary. Living with constant disruptions and plans being deferred, can make the heart sick.
For some of us it’s not just one ‘big’ thing, but lots of little things that are building pressure – parenting, marriage, job, relationships, fears, worries about the future, experiencing loss, discouragement, illness, money problems.
It’s important we check on how we are doing holistically – emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually.
Not dealing with weariness and fatigue can have greater consequences.
When we face constant battles, we go through a variety of emotions, we may start off with shock, then anger, we have a lot of fight and drive, but eventually the constant knocks and pressures of life, if they don’t relent we can become weary and find we lack the drive to keep going.
Being weary is an inevitable part of life because we are human. It’s not a lack of faith if we experience it. There are plenty people of faith in the Bible that went through it.
Joseph
Moses
Elijah
We all have our battles and pressures. Some face ongoing health battles, relationship battles and financial battles.
So why is weariness a problem?
If not dealt with, weariness can potentially lead to:
• Apathy – apathy is having a lack of interest, enthusiasm or concern. We start not to care about things that we once cared about.
• Depression – is a depressed mood or loss of interest in activities, which causes significant impairment in daily life.
• Apostasy - the abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief or principle. We can turn away from our faith and relationship with God.
Not treating our weariness can lead to major emotional, psychological and spiritual consequences. It needs to be taken seriously.
God does provide for these times and we need to look at how we engage with what He provides as we have a part to play too.
God Provides Compassion
When we are weary God does not shame or condemn us instead he looks upon us compassionately. No matter what has happened or what has led to where we are, we are God’s child and his gaze upon us is one of compassion.
— Isaiah 49:13 - Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
When tired and weary, we can feel God is far away from us or perhaps punishing us.
It’s important to know that God is just there and He cares. He wants to gather us like a mother hen gathers her chicks. He wants to soothe and bring comfort.
God is not distant or aloof. He is up close and ready to provide comfort and compassion.
What would that sound like for you? And what would it look like for you?
God provides compassion but we also we need to be compassionate to ourselves. Sometimes we are our harshest critic.
What would being compassionate sound and look like for you?
Could it be giving yourself a break, lowering your expectations, or accepting you’ve done the best you can in this moment.
Receiving God’s compassion, helps us to be compassionate to ourselves and to others.
God Provides Rest
When we are battle weary, we are usually feeling exhausted and we need rest. Elijah exhausted from his battles, fled and sat under a tree and wanted to die.
1 King 19:4b - “I have had enough Lord,” he said “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
When we are weary we need rest and God invites us to it.
Matthew 11:28-30 - “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Rest is a crucial part of our recovery. If you have worked out at any fitness group before, the general encouragement is to weave rest into your routine. In fact, recovery is just as critical as the other parts of working out.
Recovery rest helps the body to heal itself, increases performance and it decreases the potential for injury. The same could be said for our mental and emotional wellbeing.
God instituted the Sabbath (Gen 2:2). God understands the importance of rest.
How good are we at keeping a Sabbath rest? One day where we choose to rest and do things that refuel and refresh us.
What does rest look like for you?
For each of us, rest looks different, but the important qualities of it is that it refreshes and restores us.
God gives us the permission and we need to give ourselves the permission to rest.
Rest improves our ability to make decisions, helps to discern next steps.
It’s important when we are weary, that we rest and that we don’t make any major decisions when we are tired.
God Provides Strength
As humans we have limits to our abilities. We are finite and limited. Only God is infinite and unlimited.
When we are weary, God wants us to acknowledge the state we are and lean on Him. Often, we carry burdens, that God is waiting for us to hand over on to His broad shoulders.
We can lean on God because He has unlimited strength.
Isaiah 40:28 – 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 and 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.
God wants us to draw strength from Him, and we can do this in a number of ways spiritually.
We do it by communing with God and telling Him how we are feeling, by reading His Word, by worshipping and praying.
When Elijah woke up from his exhaustion, the Lord led him to eat physical food. This is critical to gain energy. But we also need spiritual food. God will provide us with strength, but we need to sit down and eat.
Whenever we spend time in God’s presence, contemplating His goodness, worshiping and praying, a divine exchange takes place and we find the grace/strength we need.
Hebrews 4:16 (TPT) – So now we come freely and boldly to where love is enthroned, to receive mercy’s kiss and discover the grace we urgently need to strengthen us in our time of weakness.
God Provides Others
One of the key ways of getting through weariness is journeying with others.
Having support is vital and God knows this.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12: Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
We need the support of friends and family and our church community.
This is one of the reasons God loves the church. The church is a company of people who are following Jesus and support each other to do so.
At times we may also need help from others in the form of professionals. Seeing a GP or a professional counsellor/psychologist or seeing a financial advisor or relationships counsellor. These can all be vital ways God provides help when we face tough times.
Let’s not allow pride or our expectations of what help needs to look like stop us from taking what is available.
Have we taken up offers of help? Or have we been living life on our own and find ourselves isolated?
God provides others for us to overcome weariness and we need to either ask for help or take up offers of help from others.
CONCLUSION
Life is full of battles. There are lots of ups and downs and we are certainly living through some now. But in all of this God wants us to be able to endure and overcome when we feel weary.
He is not leaving us to figure this out on our own. God provides us with what we need to overcome - compassion, rest, strength and help from others.
When we access what He provides, we find we will go from strength to strength and we can help others to do the same.
He encourages us to not give up doing good.
Gal 6:9-10 (NIV) - Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.