“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
Man, I am really worn out! I can’t believe how sore and tired I am. Have you ever been so tired that you can’t sleep? That is tired! I went to bed last night about 10:30, but I just laid there until about 4:00 in the morning with aches and pains in body parts I didn’t even know I had. We had our annual Labor Day Picnic yesterday, the 17th annual blowout we put on every year on the first Monday of September. Standing in front of a couple of hot BBQ grills for 2 hours is bad enough, then I played baseball for another couple of hours after stuffing myself full of the best pork ribs on earth. It was our best picnic ever (we say that every year), with well over 200 people in attendance, many of them experiencing one of Crest Bible Church’s premier events for the very first time. We do this every year to celebrate a number of things like kids back in school, the end of summer, and just because we want to have a party (who needs a reason?). But the Labor Day Picnic is really my celebration. It was 32 years ago on Labor Day weekend that I received Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour (September 4, 1978). So I celebrate my spiritual birthday with a BBQ feast for a couple hundred of my closest friends. Someone said we should do a picnic for everyone’s spiritual birthday. Fine. You cook the ribs.
We all know what it means to be tired. Everyone on earth has experienced those times when it seems that you just can’t go another step without a couple of “trainers” – one under each arm to carry you to the bench so you can collapse. For those who know Jesus as their Saviour and are actively involved in his work, those times can hit even more severe. Not only do we get worn out physically, we also get spiritually tired. We face an enemy in an unseen realm who is so sly that he knows our every weakness and how to exploit them for his purposes. Despite what the atheist and naturalist would say, man is a spiritual being also, and everything we face in the physical world has its counterpart in the spiritual as well. That is why a Christian can experience some very serious setbacks in his life, many times even more severe than those without Christ. We think as believers that life is always about the wonderful and the positive, at least that is what the pop psychologist TV preachers tell us. The when the reality of “tired” hits us, we think there is something wrong with us and we have somehow sinned against God.
Isaiah tells us that we have a spiritual power source unknown to the physical world. We treat our “tired” with Red Bull and Five Hour Energy. I ran around the bases a few times yesterday. I was five for five and scored a couple of runs, thank you. I got really weary doing that. It is a good thing they put bases out there so I can stop every once in a while to keep from falling over. But the Bible tells us we can run and not be weary. In fact, the more we run, the more strength we get. It comes when we “wait upon the Lord”. That means to serve him as a “waiter” does in a restaurant. When we stand at his table with the towel draped on our arm attending to his needs, he gives us more strength for the task. Sometimes his “orders” include taking a break and resting for a while. But his power source never runs down, because his “electric bill” was paid in full on the cross of Calvary. We can certainly get tired in the Lord’s work, but a believer should never be tired of the Lord’s work. I sometimes read my Bible and my eyes get so heavy I cannot go on, even in the middle of the day. But I never get tired of reading the Bible. Serving Jesus is hard work and takes its toll on us in many ways. Sunday afternoons are usually “crash time” for me. At the same time, we get energized in his work in ways unexplained by natural means.
Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” It is natural to be tired. But with our eyes on the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, let us continue to run the race until we cross the finish line in his strength.
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