“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Gal. 6:9)
Because they will not listen, because they will not apply what they have heard, because their hearts are hardened, Satan has ensnared them, the world, the flesh, the self, all these can cause us to grow weary in the work. Ask any pastor that is worth his salt, who has indeed been called to the pulpit by Almighty God to preach His Word, and he will tell you about weariness.
Ask the street preacher after the crowds have mocked and ridiculed him, walked past him as if he is invisible. Ask the man who spends hours on social media sites trying to reach lost souls with the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and receives little to no replies, and the majority of the ones that he does are derogatory, to say the least.
These and many more items can cause us to grow weary in the work that has been set before us, and in those times, sometimes for long seasons we cry with Jeremiah, “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” (Jer. 20:9)
Then we recall Psalm 139:1, “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
We remember Matthew 10:16, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”
And above all, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
And so, we praise His name, we pray for strength and guidance, and we get back to work. Easy work offers little rewards, the difficult path is the one that leads to the greatest treasures.
Have you honestly considered the words of Paul in Philippians 3:10, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;” He wanted to go past just being weary, he gave no thought to the trials, tribulations and persecutions that so many who claim to know the Lord as Savior today do their best to avoid. He wanted to know Christ, and Him crucified.
Most people who say they are saved spend the majority of their lives in the pursuit of the things of the flesh, and what the world has to offer them if they will just continue to get up when that alarm clock goes off, if they will strive nearly everyday for what the flesh desires. They are willing to come back home weary for decades if it means a more comfortable existence.
How tired does one need to be to fall asleep in a boat in the middle of a severe thunderstorm?
“Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.” Matthew 17:17 speaks of a moment of great weariness and frustration, each step to the place of the skull shot pains through His flesh that we cannot imagine.
Every Friday morning, I place eight to twelve or more of these letters on the Letters of Truth website, I grow weary just thinking about it, but I do as I have been led to do. That pastor, sometime during the week grows weary of thinking of those glassy eyed stares that will once again be there next Sunday, every woman at times desires a full-time maid or housekeeper. We grow weary, we complain, we ask for forgiveness, and we get back to the work of glorifying the Lord our God in whatever way He has determined for us.
The lost cannot comprehend one thing written here, the verse for them is Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” We know better, we hear, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” (Prov. 16:9)
There is a day of rest coming for all those that fully understand this short, poorly written letter, a day beyond anything we have ever experienced before. But do not think that it will last forever, there are no slothful people in heaven, just those who will never feel that weariness ever again.
