Coping With Being Tired

HE gives power to the faint and to them who have no might, HE increases strength.  Even the young will faint and get weary, while the young men utter fall; however, those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.  They will mount up with wings as eagles.  They will run and not be weary. They will walk and NOT faint.

Isaiah 40:29-31

Wow! "I am really tired.  I am pooped.  I am worn out.  My get up and go has got up and went. Somebody let the air out of my tires." I have heard words like these, and maybe I have experienced precisely these variations of tiredness.  I have even felt these expressions of being completely way past my ability to go on. What's a Christ Follower to do?  Good question.

One thing I do is consider the good news of an ancient Prophet like Isaiah, and I choose to believe that what He is saying millennia ago is 21st century spot on true. God still gives power to those who are weak.  As a matter of fact, His grace is sufficient for each one of us, and God's power is perfected in our very own weakness, as Paul testified to a couple of thousand years ago.  I am a witness to this. Even when we have no might, God increases our strength.  I remember how He brought me back from the shear total weakness I felt and experienced after having had open heart surgery.  Besides this, more times than I can count, God has sustained me and helped me excel when people many years my junior, in the military, couldn't keep up.

The Key to tapping in to this supernatural grace is made possible by "waiting on the Lord."  Now what does waiting on the Lord mean?  I think it means a couple of things, and it is applied according to how the Creator created or designed us.  There is waiting, as if waiting for someone to come to us. Just being still, focusing on our God and being in an attitude of prayer is also waiting.  We can wait as we absorb the promises of God such as this one in Isaiah.  What is being said? How is it being said? Who is saying it? Where is it being said?  Why is it being said?  What does it say to me? Is there a practical way to apply it to my life or the lives of people in the Church?  There is something very empowering by simply waiting on the Lord. The Psalmist would call us to wait by guiding us in the spiritual practice of "Be still and know God." (See Psalm 46 and spend some time waiting with it.)

"Wait" is also an action verb.  Yes, God has hardwired some of us to be still and wait, as discussed above, but God has also hardwired some of us to wait, as in wait on tables." Some of us will find our strength making a difference in other people's lives. If you are made this way, you will find your strength in God, through Jesus Christ, by acts of random kindness ... A.R.K.  You will refresh and revitalize simply by simply serving or helping people who need help.

Either way I am fairly certain that waiting on the Lord will renew your strength and help you grow in Grace.

SoJourner