Text) Mark 6:30-32
The word “weary” means to “feel fatigue.”
It is the natural result of labor and toil that reduces strength.
We tend to be members of the “fraternity of the fatigued.”
It is said the we are all in the “rat race” of life.
The problem with that is, even if you win, you are still just a rat!
Signs of Fatigue.
The old Datsun commercial of days gone by said, “We are driven!”
That’s us. Driven!
Someone has well said,
“We worship at our work. We work at our play. And we play at our worship.”
American’s way of living tends to be at a breakneck pace, in the fast lane!
Involved in everything that is thrown and/or comes our way.
And some proudly say, “But I would rather burn out than rust out.”
Well, my friend, either way you are out!
The signs of fatigue and weariness are easily seen:
In marriages that have gone stale
In Church services that are routine
In jobs that are mundane!
The Sources of Fatigue.
What are some of the culprits that weary us?
Primarily it’s Our life style:
The way we choose to live
The way we plan
The way we schedule
The way we work
The way we hurry here and there.
We wear on until we wear out!
The sinful society tends to sandblast our souls.
(A cute story of a first-grader who wondered why her father brought home a briefcase full of work every evening; Her mother explained, “Daddy has so much to do that he can’t finish it all at the office.” “Well, then,” asked the child innocently, “why don’t they put him in a slower group?”)
Oh but it can be hard to find a slower group.
Let’s list out some things that tend to Wear us down:
People, Luke 18:5.
There are some kinds of people that wear us down.
Trials, Hebrews 12:3.
There are some burdens that seem like they are more than we can bear.
Task, Galatians 6:9, 2 Thessalonians 3:13.
We may not get tired “of” God’s work, but all of can and do get tired “in” God’s work!
That is why the Lord told the Psalmist, “Be not weary in well-doing!”
Herein is the problem:
We have allowed ourselves to get under a burden, thus diminishing courage and hope.
Thereby causing us to faint and become despondent in the tasks of life and living.
It is a sad commentary when you consider that for everyone who “burns out” in the well doing of God’s work…
There are ten who just “back out.
As it were, “They turned back in the day of battle” Psalm 78:9.
Oh but never forget, that on the one you can depend…
He never wears out, gives up, faints nor quiets!
Most people today have a serious “wait problem”
There is no diet or exercise program to remedy this “wait problem”!
The American prayer tends to go something like this:
“Lord, give me patience. And I want them right now!”
It is seemly impossible for this generation, a generation which exists on:
Microwave dinners, instant potatoes, stove-top stuffing,
Concentrated orange juice, instant-view video, and freeway express lanes
To learn how to wait.
For that matter, Who wants to wait?
I have don’t enjoy waiting for. . . the toast to brown . . . the light to turn green . . . The next parking space . . . children to get out of school . . . checker at the grocery store . . . game to start . . . the jello to jell!
(Most of us are not like the little girl at her piano practice, who when asked why she was so quiet, answered, “Mother, I am practicing the rests.”)
Waiting is not simple idleness or goofing off.
God does not favor loafing.
Nor does He frown on the right kind of waiting.
Psalm 27:14 “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”
Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I [am] God:…”
Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait (look for, hope, expect) upon the LORD shall renew (change) [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.”
(A bone-weary father dragged into his home dog tired late one evening. It had been one of those unbelievable days of pressure, deadlines, and demands. He looked forward to a time of relaxation and quietness. Exhausted, he picked up the evening paper and headed for his favorite easy chair by the fireplace.
About the time he got his shoes untied, PLOP! into his lap dropped his five-year-old son with an excited grim on his face.
“Hi, Dad, . . . let’s play!”
He loves the boy dearly, but his need for a little time all alone to repair and think was, for the moment, a greater need than with Junior. What could he do?
There had been a recent moon probe and the newspaper carried a huge picture of the earth. With a flash of much-need insight, the day asked his boy to bring a pair of scissors and some transparent tape. Quickly, the dad cut the picture of the earth into various shapes and sizes, then handled the pile of homemade jigsaw puzzle pieces to him.
“You tape it all back together, Danny, then come one back and we’ll play, okay?”
Off scampered the child to his room as dad breathed a sigh of relief. But in less than ten minutes the boy bounded back with everything taped perfectly in place.
Stunned, the father asked: “How did you do it so fast, Son?”
“Aw, it was easy, Daddy. You see, there is this picture of a man on the back of the sheet . . . and when you put the man together, the world comes together.”
And so it is in life.
When we put the Man in His rightful place, it’s amazing what happens to our world.
And, more importantly, what happens to US
Colossians 3:3 says,
“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”
