The Three R's - A Recipe for Battling Weariness

“For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

Jeremiah 31:25

Life can be a constant battle of responsibilities, deadlines and demands on our time and physical resources. We push ourselves to the limits of what we are able to endure and wonder why we don’t enjoy a sense of victory and achievement, but instead, we end up feeling weary and depleted.

Weariness tends to hit us three different areas: emotional, mental, and physical. Sometimes one or the other, and sometimes all at once.

Elijah struggled with weariness in his spirit. 1 Kings 19, we find Elijah’s life being threatened, by Jezebel, after the sound defeat of the 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. At her threat, Elijah fled in fear. He was not riding high on faith after the tremendous victory, instead he was tired and weary and ready to quit.

“Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.” (1 Kings 19:3-5)

Elijah was convinced that he was alone in his faith and was tired of trying to rally the Israelites to repent, put away their idols and worship only God. In his weariness he found himself at his breaking point and prayed for death.

One might think that is extreme, but if we were honest with ourselves, we might admit that we’ve been temped as Elijah was. Many of us, in ministry, have asked ourselves what are we accomplishing? Are we making a difference? If we were to quit, would anyone notice?

1 Kings 19: 5-7 picks up Elijah’s story. “All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”

In the New Testament, Mark 5:25-34 recounts the story of a woman who had struggled with a hemorrhage for over 12 years. She had spent everything she had on physicians, but no one could find a cure for her. To add to her physical suffering, she endured great mental and emotional distress.

“And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.” (Mark 5:25-29)

Her desperation drew her out onto the streets and into a crowd even though she was legally not allowed to be there because of her illness. Disregarding the laws, she pressed through the crowd to reach out and simply touch the clothes of Jesus. She was weary of dealing with this illness, weary of the doctors, and the weary of being in isolation.

Mark continues the narrative in verses 30-34, saying “at once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’” “But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

In one moment, her weariness was gone. In its place was peace and freedom. I can only imagine how her life changed. Many of us have been struggling – weary of life dealing with the pandemic and all that it entails. We’ve been living with this for just over a year and many are ready to cry out “enough!”

God knew when Elijah was at his limit just as He knew when the Woman with the bleeding disorder was at the breaking point. It shouldn’t be a surprise to us that God also knows when we reach our limits. His advice for them is the same for us. Replenish, Reach Out & Receive.

Replenish

I find it interesting that at Elijah’s weakest point, God prescribed physical nourishment and rest. I find that if I’m physically tired and hungry, then everything looks much worse than it actually is. I also know that I’m not alone in this. The word “hangry” meaning bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger was made an official word a few years ago.

We need to take the time necessary to replenish our bodies. A car won’t run without fuel, a computer won’t function without power, and we can’t function without taking care of the needs of our bodies.

Reach Out

We live in a time when self sufficiency is not only valued but garners respect from others. But God wants us not to rely on the strength of our flesh (which we know from Elijah’s experience can and will fail us), but on His strength alone.

In 2nd Corinthians 8:9, Paul is reminded by God that “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

When the woman reached out to Jesus, it wasn’t the touching of his clothes that healed her, it was her absolute confidence that Jesus alone was the answer to her problems.

Receive

Both Elijah and the Woman were faced with a decision. Do I receive what God is offering? For Elijah it was physical nourishment and rest. For the woman, it was a physical healing.

Do we allow ourselves to not only recognize but receive the relief God is offering us? Or do we brush it aside and continue to live in the cycle of weariness? Stepping out of that cycle will take intentionality. It will mean saying no to some things. It will mean delegating other things. It will mean putting aside our pride and recognizing that we not only need God’s intervention, but we need the people that God has placed in our lives. We need to learn to recognize and receive the help that God provides.

If you find yourself weary, take some time this week and replenish, reach out & receive. God has more for you than the constant uphill battle that you are experiencing. He has rest.