Tired But Encouraged (5 Min)

Is it just me? How can a person be so joyful and thankful but tired of certain things simultaneously? The writers of the Bible often shared laments, and while I am not divinely inspired to write Scripture and am by no means a skilled author, I can express my thoughts. I will avoid details because they are of no significance to most, but I can share the encouragement that arises from shifting perspective from my feelings about the situation to where my strength comes from, the Lord Who is the Maker of Heaven and Earth.

My Spirit Concerning My Soul

Lord, why do I feel this way? I know You are with me. I see Your attention to detail and care in creation (Luke 12:22-31). Your fine-tuning and harmonic resonance can be heard and felt in the deepest chambers of my heart (Psalms 19:1-14). Your Spirit has saturated my spirit through regeneration, yet my soul cries out with deep longings for things to be set right (Romans 8:22-26).

From my perspective, the first thing that needs to be corrected is the depravity of my soul that rears its ugly head and needs to be mortified DAILY. I long for the day when I will be entirely free from sin, yet I know the time You have afforded me remains unfulfilled because there are things I must accomplish (Ephesians 2:10). There seems to be an unending amount of work to be done, so little time, and so many flaws and distractions. And still, when I meditate on Your Word, Your plan, and Your love, I am reinvigorated with such hope. Christ, my Redeemer, did not leave His redeemed as orphans (John 14:15-21); He asked You to send Your Holy Spirit to indwell Your people, His bride.

And so, here I am, waiting for You to do what only You can do. Longing to serve you faithfully with joy, and failing so desperately when I get in the way of Your plan. You know my every moment, my every breath. You sustain me in this earthly existence. You rejoice over me (Zephaniah 3:17, Psalms 147:11, Psalms 149:4), and I am so overwhelmingly aware of how undeserving I am of Your grace. Within my soul, I long for more of you and less of me. Then… life happens, and I try but fail (what a wretched, sinful soul). But alas, this soul is one You elected to redeem.

My Spirit Concerning The State of Affairs

Lord, why do I feel this way? I know You are with me. I hear Your words of comfort and covenant promises: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” and “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”

The world is a mess, and people don’t realize how much they need You. Even many of Your people are so concerned about being correct that they fail to see that the unity and reconciliation Your Son died for is fractured by strife, envy, discord, and self-righteousness (John 15:8-9, 11-16). How Your heart must ache as You wait for the times of restoration that You have appointed (Ephesians 1:3-14 ). You know everything and are long-suffering with Your creation (2 Peter 3:9). Thank You!

It is written in Your Word:

• For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4:6-10 ESV)

Lord, why do I feel this way? I actually know why. I just wanted to talk to You about it, to express it. Here it is. Jesus said,

• “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross DAILY and follow Me. (Luke 9:23)

Nothing I have experienced is as intense as what You and Your Son have endured to reconcile mankind to Yourself. It’s this DAILY exercise that can be wearisome (Philippians 3:12-14). That is precisely why my soul cries out to you. You are the strength I need daily to persevere and overcome! You are the source of all that is good! You are the hope for the world! You have already seen me in eternity accepted in the Beloved!

In fact, You already provided the words that best express this moment I am experiencing.

• … As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” … Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation … Deep calls to deep at the roar of Your waterfalls; all your breakers and Your waves have gone over me. By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. (Psalm 42:1-3, 5, 7-8 ESV)

Time is short, and many of Your people sense the urgency of the hour. Help us to endure this season, to run the course set before us faithfully and fruitfully (Luke 21:19, Luke 8:15, Psalms 27:13-14, Romans 8:25, Romans 15:4).

Thank You, for I know You will do it for Your good pleasure and Your glory.

Now to the other branches in our Lord’s vineyard, this one-branch repeats these words of encouragement to each of us from Hebrews:

• Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. … Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; … Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:1-2, 14-15, 28-29 ESV)