INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• Do you ever get to the point where you ready to just check out, things are hitting you from every direction, and you are at your wits end.
• Life runs at a fast pace these days and it is easy to get overly stressed or emotionally burned out.
• The American Psychological Society performed a study in 2007; mind you this is before the economy hit the skids.
• Three quarters of Americans experience symptoms related to stress in a given month
• One-third of Americans feel they are living with extreme stress.
• About half of Americans (48%) feel that their stress has increased over the past five years. I BET IT IS AS BIT HIGHER NOW!
• One in four people report that they have been alienated from a friend or family member because of stress.
• Emotional burn out or extreme stress is not healthy for us.
• Another study suggests that Workers who report that they are stressed incur health care costs that are 46 percent higher, or an average of $600 more per person, than other employees. Source: Steven L. Sauter, chief of the Organizational Science and Human Factors Branch of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Over the past few weeks we have been examining the dark emotions of life that we all face and have to come to grips with at one time or another in our life.
• Today we conclude our series by looking at the dark emotion of Emotional Burnout.
• This emotion can help render us dead to the world around us. Burnout can manifest itself in a loss of motivation, an increasingly cynical and negative outlook, along with decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment.
• It can lead us to withdrawing from responsibilities, isolating ourselves from those we love, among other things.
• Today we will look to Psalm 40:1-3 for help and encouragement in dealing with emotional burnout.
• SLIDE #2
• Let us being in verse 1
• Psalm 40:1 (ESV) I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
We can get a better handle on emotional burnout if we understand that...
I. God hears your cries for help.
• This Psalm was peened by King David most likely during the time of his son Absalom’s rebellion.
• This was a very trying time for David and he was emotionally burned out. Even when he was delivered from the hand of his son, David was hurt, and burned out. As a matter of fact his after Absalom was killed, David wept bitterly, and Joab the Commander and Chief of David’s army had to confront him.
• SLIDE #4
• 2 Samuel 19:4–7 (ESV) 4 The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!” 5 Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, “You have today covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who have this day saved your life and the lives of your sons and your daughters and the lives of your wives and your concubines, 6 because you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have made it clear today that commanders and servants are nothing to you, for today I know that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased. 7 Now therefore arise, go out and speak kindly to your servants, for I swear by the LORD, if you do not go, not a man will stay with you this night, and this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now.”
• David was a mess. We all face times when it is hard to carry on. The stresses of life can be very hard to overcome.
• When we face emotional burnout, one of the things we tend to do is isolate ourselves. We think we are alone, we feel that no one cares.
• David was facing one of the darkest moments of his life.
• I think this was worse than what Saul was doing to him because this was coming from his son whom David loved dearly.
• One of the things that David learned throughout his life was that he could count on God. God did not remove him or shield him from problems, but God was there to help him through it.
• SO David tells us in verse 1 that he waited PATIENTLY for the Lord. When we are hurting we can cry out to the Lord because He hears us. The struggle we have many times is that we do not think God is listening to us because we are not seeing the action and outcome we want in a given situation.
• The Hebrew in this phrase does emphasize patience but the fact that David wait SOLELY on the Lord.
• To wait denotes a confident trust or faith in the Lord. Like in Psalm 130:5.
• Remember Romans 8:28, God can make all things work out for good no matter what the situation.
• The key we need to understand the word PATIENCE. That is a tough pill to swallow especially when we are feeling burned out.
• Verse 1 also says… he inclined to me and heard my cry.
• The phrase “he inclined to me” denotes one leaning forward to catch a faint distant sound. It pictures the Creator of all stooping from His throne to save the helpless.
• In other words, God is leaning out listening for our pleas and cries.
• David was in what looked to be a hopeless situation but he still called out to God and he waited patiently on God, knowing that God would hear his cry for help.
• Ok, it is one thing to hear your cry, but let us look at verse 2 to see what else happens.
• SLIDE #5
• Psalm 40:2 (ESV) He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
• SLIDE #6
We can get a better handle on emotional burnout if we understand that...
II. God will respond to your cries.
• It is one thing to hear a cry; it is another thing to do something in response to the cry.
• When we are suffering from or on the edge of emotional burnout, we feel like no one can do anything to help our situation, but David tells us that God can!
• He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
• David was in dire straits, he cried out to God and God delivered him from the pit of destruction, from the miry bog. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get out of his situation.
• When we are emotionally burned out from spending time in the pit of destruction, God will be there to deliver us from it.
• In 1 Kings 19:1-3 the prophet Elijah had just had the epic battle with the prophets of Baal ending in the death of ALL the Baal prophets. You would think Elijah would be on top of the world, but he became emotionally burned out when he heard Queen Jezebel was on the warpath.
• SLIDE #7
• 1 Kings 19:1–4 (ESV) Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
• Elijah after winning the epic battle by the power of the Lord was so afraid of the Queen that he asked God to take his life. He just could not endure life any longer.
• He was tired and emotionally spent.
• In verse 10, God speaks with Elijah and it is apparent that Elijah is spent.
• SLIDE #8
• 1 Kings 19:10 (ESV) 10 He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”
• Later in the chapter God basically tells Elijah to get up and get ready because God had more for him to do. God was not going to let him fail.
• God did not let his pain unanswered. God will not let your pain go unanswered either.
• David speaks of being in the bog, in a bog it is easy to slip and fall, but David said God planted his feet on upon the rock making his steps secure.
• This reminds me a bit of Proverbs 3:5-6.
• SLIDE #9
• Proverbs 3:5–6 (ESV) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
• David trust in God and God delivered, He will do the same for you!
• Let’s conclude with this awesome thought in verse 3.
• SLIDE #10
• Psalm 40:3 (ESV) He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.
• SLIDE #11
We can get a better handle on emotional burnout if we understand that...
III. God will lead you to victory!
• When you look at the transition from verse1 to verse 3, you see something very encouraging. David has gone from the depths of despair to the heights of joy.
• God has helped him get out of his rut; He has put David in a position of victory.
• Instead of feeling burned out and in deep pain, God was able to give David a new song to sing!
• This phrase symbolizes a newfound joy that David was experiencing because of the fact that God heard his cry, acted upon it and brought David into victory lane!
• The awesome thing about this is that as others hear the once defeated singing praise to God, it will lead them to respect and put their trust in God also!
• The "new song" of deliverance supplants the "old" song of pain and despair.
• God can lead us to victory if we will allow Him to do so!
• SLIDE #12
• 1 Corinthians 15:57 (ESV) But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION
• Life can be tough, we all face the dark emotions of life, I hope that over the past few weeks we have drawn some encouragement as to how to deal with those times.
• We always need to understand that we have a Father in heaven who loves us and who wants us to experience the joy of our salvation!
• Beginning in November, we will begin a series entitled CELEBRATE! I am looking forward to sharing that with you!
