10/16/2020
I was listening to a business video yesterday, and the CEO who was speaking quoted a scripture that has been on my mind all day and night. This verse speaks of not growing weary in doing good, and at first I felt that growing tired of doing good things was nearly impossible, but as I considered the idea further it dawned on me that even the good we do in life can tire us after much repetition, or labor.
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Galatians 6:9 ESV
Suddenly I became convicted by this thought. I recalled how I would go regularly to a soup kitchen in downtown Nashville to help feed the homeless, and how wonderful that made me feel, but somehow over time my trips became less frequent, until one day I just never went back... I had grown weary of doing that good thing.
“For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?”
Luke 9:25
Even the good we do in life can place a strain on us, and when Satan sees that chink in our armor he immediately wedges his sword in it. He then twists it a little each time we feel our fatigue coming on until at last we remember only the pains we have endured, or all the distractions he has placed in our way, and we abandon the good that we had been doing.
“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.””
Genesis 4:7 ESV
I am often asked how long I have been writing my morning devotionals, and if I have ever missed a day in all that time. I always answer that I added my devotional writing to my morning prayers, and the reading I do, over five years ago, and that the Lord has inspired me each day, and allowed me to write without missing a single one. So as I thought on this it occurred to me that being obedient in this way had not always been easy. I have been ill, suffered through cancer, had a hip replaced, and resisted many diversions. Sometimes I would beg for god to give me a single word, and pray until at last that word would come... followed by the flood that followed; surging and flowing from within me. The key to overcoming my fatigue on those mornings when the spirit was reluctant to speak to me was prayer, and meditating on God’s Word. This was what filled that chink in my spiritual armor, and it will fill yours as well.
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”
Galatians 5:16-17 ESV
Just because something is good doesn’t mean that it will not weary us, and quite often, as we suffer that pain and fatigue, we are ever so slowly lured into giving up... sometimes we don’t even realize we have abandoned our good work until one day it is simply gone. I experienced a similar thing when I had my hip replaced I endured pain, and it would continue at a certain level for days until one morning I would wake up to realize that the pain was much less. There was even a day that I needed something from the bottom shelf of a cabinet, and as I retrieved it I realized that I was squatting completely down without any pain... it had been years since I had been able to do that.
“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.” And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.””
1 Kings 19:4-5 ESV
So we can grow tired of doing good, but if we concentrate on God, His Word, and what is good, we will be sustained, and will be strengthened in doing that good... far beyond our own ability. So are you ready to resist weariness, and reap the rewards of those efforts?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for bolstering our strength, and patching the chinks in our spiritual armor. Thank you for our faith, and for teaching us to concentrate on the things that are good. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who hears our prayers, sees the good that we do, and rewards us for our obedience in doing them. Praised be your name for the inspiration we find in your Holy Spirit, and for the example in pursuing a righteous life that we receive from your Son Jesus. You are merciful Lord, and your grace stands guard over our mental, and physical, weaknesses. Cover us with your wings Lord, and turn the weariness that saps our good efforts into sudden strength. Wash us in the blood of Jesus, and reward us with an eternity in your house.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:8-9 ESV
Rich Forbes