Week
8 Hope and Certainty
Day 55
When We Are Tired
God’s
rule is not “work before play” but rather, “partake before work.” Partaking of the Lord is recreation for our
spirits; there is no refreshment so complete as basking in the light of His
holy presence and word.
~~~
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e need to believe strongly in Christ’s assertion that if we
give God first place in our lives, He will provide for all our needs.[i]
This belief is a vital portion of our willingness to seek Him early, ahead of
the crushing responsibilities of our days. It is important to release even the
need for sleep into God’s hands with a willingness to come when He calls,
because the night watches (as the Bible calls the hours when we usually are
asleep) can provide precious, quiet time for the Lord to speak to our hearts.
This is difficult. We are often
tired, and exhaustion brings its own challenges; we become inefficient, every
difficulty seems magnified, and hopelessness creeps in. But more often, it is fear of exhaustion rather than
exhaustion itself that is the stumbling block that prevents us from meeting our
spirits’ needs for sustenance from God through praise, Scripture, and prayer.
We forget the Lord is able to sustain us, and that when we put Him first He is
able to work supernaturally to lighten our burdens.
There is no required formula for a
“good” devotion time with the Lord. I remember reading a homeschooling mother’s
account of one of the reasons she loved teaching her children at home; she felt
free to focus on one subject at a time for weeks on end as the child’s needs
required. The Lord allows us this same freedom; at times He may know that our
hearts need the encouragement of praise, and the entirety of our devotion times
may be spent in thanksgiving. In other seasons we are burdened by difficult
situations in our lives, and our prayer times are spent mostly in intercession.
Any template for a devotion time should be flexible, and although we don’t want
to continue indefinitely in one phase of interaction with the Lord (no more
than a teacher would continue presenting only math and no reading for an entire
semester), we need to allow ourselves to follow His lead.
But what of the days when we
oversleep, or miss His call, or sin by being unwilling to come? In my
Alzheimer’s mom’s words, “Sometimes I let go of Him, but He never lets go of
me.” We mustn’t allow our sin to cause us to close our minds to Him, because He
doesn’t ever veil Himself from us. His arms are always open, and He will
provide for us out of His mercy and grace. We may let Him down by refusing a
call to prayer, but He will not let us down when we call out to Him for help.
However, we do need to be aware of a common stumbling block; it is typical
human (sinful) behavior to rail out at God in anger when things go badly as a
result of our having failed to listen to His guidance. When circumstances seem
to turn against us we need to quickly come to the Lord in humility and prayer
and not waste time blaming Him for the natural consequences of our own sin. He
will not disappoint us. Sometimes we are like children who stick fingers in
their ears with a refusal to listen; but even then He is merciful.
We often blame physical weariness
on lack of self-discipline, and believe if we could only discipline our bodies
adequately we could keep weariness at bay. But often it is simply the inherent
frailty of the flesh that brings exhaustion, and the solution to this weariness
is not stricter discipline of our physical bodies (we will only become more
depleted), but more time spent sitting at Jesus’ feet. The Holy Spirit can
bring new energy not just to our souls, but also to our physical bodies as we
seek Him ahead of any program of physical self-discipline. The world’s view
tells us that hard work earns rest, but in the Lord’s perspective the opposite
is true; if we rest in Him ahead of the work of the day, we will find our
burdens are lifted in ways we could not have achieved for ourselves. And,
obedience is energizing!
Pray: Dear Lord, help me to view my
daily time with You as a luxury of indulgence rather than as a rule I must
follow. Forgive me for being slow to come when You call; teach me to come
eagerly, as I would if a lover or a dear friend knocked at my door. You are the
One who knows me best and loves me most, Lord, I come to You! Grant me the
grace and ability to give you first place in my life every day of my life. In
Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
~~~
There is a river
whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation
of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be
moved;
God will help her
when morning dawns.
Psalm 46:4-5
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