Are You Weary?

“I put in 16-hour days. I work seven days a week. I haven’t had a vacation in years.”

Ever heard someone say something like that?

Even believers and ministers can fall into this habit. They talk about how tired they are, convinced that fatigue is proof—to God and others—of how much they’re accomplishing.

It’s one thing to be tired, catch up on some sleep and be ready to go. It’s another to live exhausted—to not only be physically tired, but to also become weary deep down inside.

Our society has a name for that kind of weariness: chronic fatigue syndrome.

It’s a disease characterized by sleep abnormalities, widespread pain, profound fatigue that lasts over six months, and other symptoms that are only made worse by activity.

If that’s where you are, then let this be your wake-up call: Chronic fatigue is a sickness to be resisted by faith, not a badge to be worn in pride. As believers, we must deal with living and ministering chronically fatigued. It’s time for a change.

God’s Power for Us

We serve a powerful God. We’re not meant to live in a constant state of weariness—because He provides all the strength we need to do what He’s called us to do. Isaiah 40:28-29 says, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength” (New King James Version).

God is omnipotent, and He gives His strength to the weak. Verses 30-31 promise that we can access it: “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 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.” We can count on God to give us strength and freedom from weariness. Jesus was the perfect example of this.

Jesus’ Cure for Exhaustion

Jesus understood what it was like to be weary. In John 4, we read that He and His disciples had been ministering in Judea. On their way to Galilee, they had to go through the city of Sychar in Samaria. They stopped by a well that their forefather, Jacob, had given to his son. That’s where Jesus rested after “being wearied from His journey” (verse 6. NKJV). The Wuest Expanded Translation of the Bible puts it this way: “Jesus [was] wearied to the point of exhaustion.”

Jesus was so tired He couldn’t take another step. He sent His disciples into the city to buy food (verse 8) while He rested. His tiredness was understandable, wasn’t it? After a long, exhausting walk, who wouldn’t have been weary? It was while He was there resting that He had His famous conversation with the Samaritan woman.

By the time the disciples returned to where Jesus was, He was refreshed. They didn’t understand. When they had left Him, they thought He’d been unable to go another step. After they returned, He was full of life. They thought someone must have brought Him something to eat. Instead, Jesus said to them: “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (verse 34). You see, that conversation Jesus had was Him doing God’s

by Jeremy Pearsons

Jeremy Pearsons and his wife, Sarah, are founders of Pearsons Ministries International and pastors of Legacy Church in Green Mountain Falls, Colo. For more information, visit them online at pearsonsministries.com or legacychurch.family.

will—and it completely refreshed Him, through and through.

Jesus proved that just as food will strengthen, sustain and satisfy the body, discovering and doing the will of God will also strengthen us when we’re weak. But here’s the key: We must be doing what God wants us to do. If we’re chasing after our own plans, we’ll live chronically fatigued. We’ll experience pain, sleeplessness and an inability to be refreshed after we sleep.

It’s easy to get busy doing more and more “stu .” We look to others and see what works for them, then try to follow their example. Before we know it, we’re doing a whole list of activities that God never called us to do, no matter how good they seem.

When you’re working hard on something, I challenge you to stop for a moment, step back and ask yourself, “Whose idea was this?” If it wasn’t God’s idea, then it’s going to drain you.

That fatigue we wear like a medal isn’t going to have God knocking on our doors and thanking us, saying things like: “Thank you for wearing yourself into the ground, son. Thank you for putting yourself in an early grave, daughter. Yes, your children hate Me, but thank you. You know, you’ve been cranky for eight years…but thank you.”

No! That’s not going to happen. God’s not thanking any of us for doing a bunch of stu He didn’t tell us to do. His will should be our only focus.

Finish the Work

Look once more at how Jesus responded to His disciples. He said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (verse 34). In addition to doing God’s will, “finishing his work” was on Jesus’ mind night and day. In other words, He was mindful of time.

Not long ago, as I was reading through the gospels and studying Jesus’ life and ministry, I found myself frustrated. I felt like my ministry wasn’t as far along as it needed to be in some areas, especially when I compared it to Jesus’ ministry.

In only three-and-a-half years, Jesus’ ministry turned the world He was living in upside down. Two thousand years later, our world is still flipped on its head.

“How did You do that?” I asked the Lord. He answered me in three words: No wasted time.

We must be about finishing the work and valuing the time we have. It’s one of the keys to getting rid of chronic fatigue.

Redeem the Time

Galatians 3:13, (NKJV) says, “Christ has redeemed us….” The word redeemed here means “to have bought back in order to save from loss.” Isn’t that what Jesus did for us? He bought us back to save us from loss. It’s what we’re supposed to be doing with our time—buying up opportunity. The Holy Spirit instructs us in Ephesians 5 to redeem our time. That word redeem is the same word found in Galatians 3:13 that says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law,” and means to buy back and save from loss. That is what Jesus did for us and that is what we are supposed to be doing with our time.

When many people hear the prosperity message, they understand it only in relation to what the Word has to say about money. That’s certainly a part of it, but biblical prosperity is so much bigger than money. It’s about what God values and how He values it. Here are just some of the things Scripture says have more value than money:

Wisdom: “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold” (Proverbs 3:13-14).

Love: “A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate” (Proverbs 15:17, New Living Translation).

Peace and unity in marriage: “It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house” (Proverbs 21:9).

What else is a valuable resource? Time. It’s worth more than gold. But guess who else knows how valuable time is? Our enemy, the devil. The thief. He’s not interested in stealing junk. He’s after things of value—including our time. He wants to rob us of our time by getting us to put o God’s will—to get us caught up in busyness and fatigue, and keep us from being mindful.

The Way Out

The way you and I resist the enemy and escape chronic fatigue is by doing the will of God and finishing His work. That means understanding and obeying what God has called us, individually, to do—no more, no less. Anything else will open the door to the enemy or lead to chronic fatigue.

If you’re feeling weary, then it’s time to stop what you’re doing and ask yourself those words: “Who’s idea was this?” If it wasn’t God’s, then put a hand on your body and pray this out loud: “Chronic fatigue, I resist and rebuke you! I will not have you in my life. I’m strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. I draw strength from my union with my Lord. He is my light and my salvation. He is the strength of my life. I will follow His will and finish His work alone!”

Then take a deep breath and be mindful of your time going forward. It’s one of the most valuable resources you have!