Relief From Weariness
Have you ever been in a season where you keep pushing and pushing in life, family, and your job and feel like you are sloshing through quick sand? No matter how long you work through the stack of work, it seems like it continues to grow and you get nowhere. You’re worn out. You’re stressed out. You’ve begun to look for other unhealthy ways to handle your empty emotional tank and it doesn’t seem to fill you up.
What if there was an ancient way to handle life that did not lead to regret and shame? I was reading through Psalm 42 recently. As I read through the Psalm, I discovered a path to revival of my spirit where there was no regret and no shame. My challenge to you is to read through Psalm 42 right now. If you are not a reader of the Bible you’re ok. I spent the first 18 years of my life running from God and didn’t want to read any religious literature. You can go out and purchase a bible or download the Bible App on your phone and start reading.
As you read Psalm 42 thoughtfully, I want you to consider a path to process your weariness in a different manner.
When you are worn out, see it as a sign that you need more than rest from work. You need rest for your soul. Look at Psalm 42:1. It says, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.” When a deer is running all over the mountainside, it gets tired and needs to refresh. We are no different. We need refreshing. The difference between a deer and us is that when we wear out it is a sign that we need God. Psalm 42:2 finishes the thought of soul thirst by staying, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” Is the god you seek alive? If not, maybe you are seeking the wrong god and it can never give you life.
When you are worn out ask your soul why you are worn out. Ok that sounds really weird! Are you asking me to talk to myself, Bill? Not at all. I am asking you to ponder the reason you are down and weary. Look at Psalm 42:5, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” The psalmist is showing us a path to relief from weariness that goes farther than another pint of ice cream or another binge of porn or binge of Netflix. We are to ask our soul what it is that is causing our weariness. It is only then that we stop impulsive destructive habits and move into healing habits.
When you are worn out, review what you are hoping in. In Psalm 42:11 repeats the question of why his soul is downcast and says, “Why are you cast down, O my soul and why are you in turmoil within me?” However, this time he does not sit in his weariness but lifts and commands his heart to hope in God. He reminds his soul what to hope in to lift his soul from weariness. The psalmist says, “Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
Friend, is your hope in God as you sit in your weariness? Is God your salvation out of your misery or are you still looking for ice cream, six pack abs, or porn to pull you out of your weariness? My prayer is that you would find God in your weariness and realize His love awaits you.
