Do you ever feel weary? I’m not talking about the kind of weary that comes from a long day of working outside. Do you ever feel weary… in your soul? The weary feeling of: I-just don’t-know-if-I-can-keep-doing… whatever it may be… anymore. My energy is just too low — the wind has disappeared from my sails — the uphill climb feels like Everest… weary. The kind of weary that saps emotional fortitude. The kind of weary that cradles a wounded soul. The kind of weary that leaves you parked in solitude and craves the remembrance of joy.
While I tend to be a higher energy person, I would be disingenuous if I didn’t admit to sometimes feeling… weary — as I have for the past week. The reality is that most people face times in their lives where they become weary in life, and those times are directly related to the Fall of Humanity over sin.
One day, we will shed soulful weariness forever, but in life today there is hope too. As Isaiah writes of God, “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.” Isaiah 40:29-31 NIV
I have needed my strength renewed this week. I long to walk… to run… to soar in my pursuit of God and His purposes for my life! As C.S. Lewis wrote in The Chronicles of Narnia, to go “further up and further in” into what God has planned for me. “The further up and the further in you go, the bigger everything gets. The inside is larger than the outside.” (C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle) Yes! To experience the fullness of Christ bursting from me as the Holy Spirit molds me into who he desires for me to be!
So, how do we move out of weary and into soaring? Isaiah told us how… we “hope in the Lord”. It all comes back to the surrendering of my will… my life… to Christ. EVERYTHING comes back to surrendering to Christ. We hope in the Lord — and then we pick up our cross and we follow him. And as we follow Jesus, carrying that cross, we are never alone… so in our weariness we can lean into his strength.
Jesus said, “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.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV Hope in the Lord is simply a confident trust in Him. The assurance in our soul that we are Children of God, and even when our soul is permeated with weariness, we know… we KNOW that He is present, purposeful and proven in His Faithfulness.
So, this week I have sought to be renewed in my strength, because I have needed it — even as I know that my strength only comes from the Lord. My hope — my confident trust is in Him and He alone. And when weariness attempts to resurrect itself in my heart I look to the One to whom I am yoked. Paul wrote, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 NIV O Lord Jesus, cultivate a rich harvest from my heart. May I walk… run… and soar in my hope in you. Renew my strength. Giving up is not an option; for you are my Lord and King. Amen.
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