Being exhausted will make you want to quit! God can help!
When we ask people how they are these days, usually the answer is, “Tired!” or, “Busy!”
When I asked what the lifestyle was like in one city, the answer was, “Fast!”
The word “weary” means faint, worn out:
1) Tired: Fatigued
2) Exhausted of tolerance or patience.
It can also be associated with sickness: “…the common accompaniment of ‘sickness”‘ is “weariness of mind…which not infrequently hinders physical recovery…”
Satan is working hard to wear us out. He wants us to faint, be sick at heart and sick in our body. Many people who have no peace of mind, who live in a state of worry can become physically sick from weariness of mind – just from being worn out in their mind.
So many people are worn out today, there are even fatigue diseases such as chronic fatigue syndrome. Faint “denotes the following:
1) to loose, release
2) to unloose, as a bow-string, to relax…
People who “faint” feel like giving up. Some Christians decide to quit several times a week, but pick themselves up, deciding, again, to go on with God. Why would you think that you’re going to give up and quit? What else would you do?
What else would we do besides serve God? For most of us, what we were doing before receiving the Lord wasn’t working. Why would we want to quit and go back to that?
Once when I was having one of my give-up days, I decided to quit. I had been going around saying, “I’m so tired of this. God, I’m so tired of this.” I didn’t even know exactly what it was I was so tired of.
Then I changed for a while to saying “I’m trying so hard, God. I’m trying, but nothing’s changing.” Finally, I said, “That’s it. I just give up, God. I can’t do this any more; I quit.”
I got really dramatic about it – down on the floor on my knees, like in one of those old movies, crying, “Help me, God. Nobody loves me. And I’m trying so hard. I give up – I just quit.”
This is what I heard the Holy Spirit inside me say to me in response – He said, “Really? Really?” Then He began teaching me something very important.
The only time the Holy Spirit gets to do anything for us is when we quit trying to do something in our own works long enough to let Him work. I had actually come to a type of believing. I had reached the end of my rope and was expressing my total dependence on the Lord. I was saying:
“I can’t do anything without you, Lord. I can’t change myself, my husband or my kids. I can’t make prosperity come to me or force a healing on my body. I can’t make my ministry grow. I can’t force myself to be nice. I’ve tried to be quiet. Every time instead I talk more than I ever have in my life. I’ve tried to think positive thoughts, and I have two negative thoughts instead of one.”
In the midst of all our human trying, we forget to believe. We often tell God how hard we’re trying when the Bible tells us if we will just believe God, He will give us His rest. (Hebrews 3:18-19; 4:9-11).
The Bible doesn’t tell us to try to do everything on our own; it tells us to believe. And it tells us to wait on the Lord.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary; there is no searching of His understanding.
He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound].
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted;
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. (Emphasis mine) (Isaiah 40:28-31)
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Web site: Joyce Meyer Ministries
Joyce Meyer is one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers. A New York Times bestselling author, her books have helped millions of people find hope and restoration through Jesus Christ. Through Joyce Meyer Ministries, she teaches on a number of topics with a particular focus on the mind, mouth, moods and attitudes. Her candid communication style allows her to share openly and practically about her experiences so others can apply what she has learned to their lives.
