Exhausted?

What happens when we get tired? I don’t mean tired as in, It’s been a long day and I’m tired, I mean, totally exhausted, tired. Tired beyond a good night’s sleep is going to sort it out, tired. I don’t know what happens when you get tired, but I know what happens to me. First, I don’t always realize that I’m exhausted. I think I’m fine because I expect myself to be fine. Then, when I want to burst out in tears when I see a Facebook post of someone who is on holiday, it suddenly hits me that I really am tired. I like doing things, I don’t really like resting. I’m also not particularly good at sleeping. I don’t know if sleeping is a skill you have to learn, but if it was I would have failed miserably. I cannot sleep during the day and it takes me ages to fall asleep at night.
Obviously all the normal ‘tired’ symptoms manifest. Getting upset about small things, wanting to accomplish tasks but not having enough energy to do things properly. Treating people with less respect that normally. And I even have thoughts of hopelessness, wondering if anything I’m doing is really worth it. I can’t even spell simple words correctly!
Isaiah 40:30-31, Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Amos 8:11-13, “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land – not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. In that day “the lovely young women and the strong young men will faint because of thirst.”
Whereas physical exhaustion can be cured by having a good rest, normally a few days in a different environment is all it takes to recharge me. But spiritual exhaustion and weariness is a different story altogether. If we aren’t feeding our souls with the Word of God we are in danger of becoming spiritually apathetic. That’s not a very good place to be at all. We have to be careful about what we see as spiritual truth, especially in these days of social media. There are so many inspirational messages that sound so good. They sound like the truth, and some of them, despite being from other religions, really give excellent advice. The danger is, however, that once we think that a certain speaker is worth listening to, we are going to start believing his or her other messages that aren’t compatible with Christianity. If we do not recognize that, we are going to start watering down the Gospel that Jesus brought. And it is happening all the time. There are so many motivational speakers who have podcasts and some of them are really easy to listen to and can boost your self esteem time after time. The problem is, you have to keep listening to them to stay in that positive place. And it’s easier to listen to one of them than to go searching for the truth in the Bible yourself.
2 Timothy 4:3, For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
What is the solution?
Hosea 12:6, But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.
As simple as that. And find a bible believing, bible preaching church. Somewhere that the Gospel isn’t compromised. A church that believes in missions and in making disciples. A church that is going to be able to equip you to live out the great commission in whatever way it is that God is calling you to do it.