Help For The Weary

Ah, the weariness of the season! Is it not fascinating how people long for this time of the year throughout the rest of the year, yet when in the midst they become weary and long for it to be over? Such is life and the weariness therein. But wait! There is help for the weary.

Matthew 11:28–30 (ESV) — 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

It sounds like such a simple solution to focus on being yoked with the Lord Jesus Christ through life and all it brings, but that is the only way of survival. By the way, as He says, He provides rest for the weary as His yoke is easy and His burden is light, mainly because He carries the brunt. What happens when we lose sight of that? We become weary. Let’s look at the example of Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 12:5 (ESV) — 5 “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?

Jeremiah 20:9 (ESV) — 9 If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

When Jeremiah complained about his situation in life, God responded with an analogy of his being weary with the smaller task at hand simply indicated he was not ready for more. Later when Jeremiah became very discouraged by the rejection of the word of the Lord by the people, he tried to quit. The problem with that was simply that God’s call is not a mere career choice, it’s a burning fire within. The more Jeremiah tried to deny that fire within and pretend it wasn’t there, the wearier he became and finally admitted that truth and returned to his call as a prophet.

Once again, the key to avoiding the weariness of life, even in the place where God has called us, is to go back to the basics for the weariness of life.

There’s another “weariness principle” in the Bible where God expresses weariness with pretending repentance that is not true and the expressions of weariness of those who are pretending to worship Him with a whole heart.

Jeremiah 15:6 (ESV) — 6 You have rejected me, declares the Lord; you keep going backward, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you— I am weary of relenting.

Malachi 1:13 (ESV) — 13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord.

The point must be understood, when we give God anything less than He deserves in wholehearted repentance and service then our “fake service” becomes a weariness to Him. Where do we go when we become weary in being sincere in our repentance or in being wholehearted in our service?

The Old Testament expression of the same principle is found in the famous passage in Isaiah chapter 40.

Isaiah 40:30–31 (ESV) — 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

As you may be struggling with the weariness of life and all the challenges it brings, keep in mind the help that God has for you in the Lord Jesus Christ. You were not meant to carry on through the weariness of life by yourself. Admitting you need His help is the first step in the “yoked up” process. Staying close to Him through the struggles of life gives you added confidence that He’s carrying the load, not you. And that is the help that He has designed for the weary.

Godspeed,

Bob Brubaker