1-27-20
I spend a lot of my life tired. Physically, mentally, and or emotionally tired. Life can wear us down between stress from work, home, and church, even when we completely love all three. They’re still hard at times.
And sometimes I think about wanting to just take a break from it all. When I was in college I joked about having a pause button, and I actually drew one on a sticky note and put it on the wall. For some reason it never worked, but I kept hoping.
Everyone gets tired, but what about when it’s more than that? What about when it’s not just, oh, today was a really long day and I need to chill for half an hour and I’ll be alright? What if it’s I’ve been so tired for so long I’m forcing myself to put one foot in front of the other but I’m about to collapse?
Sometimes we get discouraged and burned out. This can happen to us at work, at home, or in our faith. If we aren’t careful, we’ll decide to quit. Maybe all at once, or maybe we just gradually run out like the batteries in a flashlight getting weaker as the beam fades into a glow and then blacks out.
That’s what happened to Elijah, the prophet. God had worked closely with him, and Elijah saw all sorts of miracles. Once he prayed that it wouldn’t rain, and the rain stopped for three years. He saw flour and oil be used and the supply not run out. He saw a widow’s son brought back to life.
But he also had to face one of the most wicked kings Israel ever had. King Ahab, his wife Jezebel, and the people who worshipped idols stood against Elijah. Jezebel told him she was going to kill him, and Elijah ran for his life. He separated himself from his servant and prayed.
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” – I Kings 19:4
Elijah had lots of opportunities for his faith to be built up. But even he had struggles with being spiritually exhausted. God took him on a journey by himself after that and took time with him to build up his faith before Elijah faced the people again.
If Elijah can struggle with faith deserts, then we surely can too. What’s important is how we deal with them. Notice that God didn’t tell Elijah he was lost because he was tired. God gave him what he needed so that he could keep going.
That’s what we need to do too. When we get tired, we need to figure out what to change to light our fire again, and then we need to get back to showing our lights to the world.
For the month of February, that’s what we’ll be talking about, but we’ll also have a daily email devotional with a specific topic and a daily challenge to build up our faith. If you’d like to join, you can sign up here.
Wishing you blessings until next time,
Heather
Heather Tabata 