O Soul Are You Weary & Troubled
John 14:1-4
Oh, Soul are you weary and troubled no light in the darkness you see there¡¦s light for a look at the Saviour and life more abundant and free. Let me ask you this morning how many of you have had a week of weariness or trouble.
a) We all get weary at times.
b) Many of us are weary physically and mentally just from the day to day struggle to make ends meet. Tiredness over time produces weariness.
c) Others are weary emotionally from wrestling with dysfunctional relationships, unrealized dreams, and the hectic hodgepodge of clamoring voices around us. Everybody needs something from me..... those demands that never stop.
d) Ironically many of us are Spiritually tired from struggling with unrepentant sin in our lives or trying in our own strength to live up to our faith.
If you are weary this morning you are in good company. But also I have encouragement for you.
Jesus in this passage addresses his disciples. They are weary and their hearts are troubled. He has just told them of his impending death and it left them confused and troubled in heart. Peter at this point tells Jesus ¡V that even if everyone else deserts Him that he will go even to death with Him. Jesus tells Peter ¡V before the cock crows you will have denied me three times. His heart was heavy and troubled.
Our tendency when we get weary is to do one of two things:
„Y Run away ¡V looking for some magic change that will make us feel better. We run from our problems and give up on our struggle ¡V but the truth is that nothing is ever accomplished by running away from your problems.
„Y We ignore it and hope it will go away ¡V we just deny that weariness is real ¡V we plug on and press forward and keep doing what we have always done in hopes that something will change. Well folks that is the recipe for burn out and disaster.
So what can we do when we are weary and troubled in heart ¡V what is the prescription for health and hope. Jesus says let not your heart be troubled
1) Believe in God ¡V Jesus says when your heart is troubled Believe in God ¡V the Greek word used here is Pisteuo ¡V it means more than just to believe ¡V it means to entrust. Entrust yourself to God is what Jesus is saying. When your heart is weary and your soul troubled trust in God. The God who is¡K
„Y Eternal ¡V Psalm 90:1-2 says ¡§Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.¡¨ Our God eternal in existance and power.
„Y Unchanging ¡V Malachi 3:6 ¡§For I the Lord do not change, therefore you O sons of Jacob are not destroyed.¡¨ Because our God is unchanging we can have security. There is no guessing with God. No bad moods, no temper tantrums, no getting up on the wrong side of the bed. He is who He is and He always will be. There is security in anchoring our lives in a rock that will not move.
„Y Omnipresent ¡V everywhere present at once ¡V Psalm 139 says ¡§If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.¡¨
„Y Omnipotent (all powerful) ¡V I Chron 29:11 says ¡§Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.¡¨ Jesus said to us ¡§nothing is impossible with God.¡¨
Our belief in God is the strength that keeps us when our strength is gone. When our hearts are troubled and our souls weary we can find rest in this God who is all these things yet calls us His own. Psalm 90 says ¡§He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ¡§My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!¡¨ For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge¡K¡¨
2) Believe Also in Me ¡V Again the word Preseuo ¡V entrust yourself ¡V to me. When your soul is troubled or your heart weary ¡V entrust yourself to the One who is Emmanuel ¡V Who is God with us. Verse 9 of this passage says ¡§He who has seen me has seen the Father¡¨. This is the personalization of God.
„Y For Rest ¡V ¡§Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ¡§Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.¡¨ Souls burdened with sin and sorrow and grief find rest in the eternal and ever present arms of Christ.
„Y For Strength ¡V Paul said ¡§I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.¡¨ Christ tells us that His power is perfected in our weakness.
„Y For Hope ¡V Paul says to Timothy ¡§we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men¡¨.
3) I Go to Prepare a Place ¡V Jesus reminds us that
„Y This is not all there is. That there is more to life than this struggle day to day. He reminds us that ¡§momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,¡¨. Scripture reminds us that ¡§we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.¡¨
„Y What is coming is better ¡V and therefore to be anticipated ¡V to prepare a place for you. He reminds us to ¡§store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.¡¨
„Y It is worth waiting for ¡V ¡§I will come again and receive you to myself¡¨
O soul are you weary and troubled ¡V believe in God, Trust in Christ, Hope in heaven.
