Anybody feeling a tad weary? Weary of worrying about this blasted, infernal virus. Weary of worrying about our courageous front-line health-care workers and other essential workers who face the relentless danger everyday of contracting COVID. Weary of cooking and cleaning up...cooking and cleaning up...cooking and cleaning up. Weary of not being able to fellowship or simply laugh and be with friends and family. Weary of face masks and social distancing and flat curves and recitation of ever rising daily death tolls. Weary of relentless hand washing. Weary of trying to choose gratitude over grumbling. Weary of that constant weight of anxiety over vulnerable or aged family and friends. Weary of feeling you're not doing enough to help yet not quite knowing what you can do. Weary of wondering and worrying about a very uncertain, unknown future. Weary of missing those plain old, basic routines of daily life that now seem utterly impossible for who knows how long.
Anybody feeling just plain weary?
Well, my hand is raised and waving wildly--me, me, me. I'm not despairing or desperate. I'm not facing catastrophic loss or overwhelming difficulty. I'm not battling this hideous virus on the front lines. So, guess what? I have absolutely no right or reason to complain...but I will admit to just a bit of weariness with this who-knows-how-long siege of COVID-19.
Therefore I figured it was high time to do a little preaching to myself. Do a little less listening to myself and a little more talking to myself. Because as I've shared over and over again--I'm mighty forgetful. I'm awfully prone to myopic thinking, selfishness, and fruitless worry. I sometimes suffer from spiritual amnesia. Sigh. Forgive me Lord.
But praise His great name that His mercies are new every morning. As the passage I read out loud about every morning (thank you, sweet Nancy McDougal!) from Lam.3 reminds us--"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him.' The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." (Lam.3:21-26)
We need to call it to mind--preach it to ourselves. We need to remember who the Lord is and His steadfast, never-ending, never-diminishing love. We need to proclaim the Truth to our souls that we may vacillate and grow weary, but He never ever does. His faithfulness is perfect, unchanging, and eternal. And we need to tell our weary-of-waiting and anxious hearts that it is good to wait on the Lord, that we are waiting on the Lord, not on the virus, and that we can wait with hope and peace, because God's timing and ways are always good, right, and pleasing.
And while we are waiting, He is working and moving. While we are waiting, He is shaping and moulding. While we are waiting, Almighty God is doing and accomplishing what only He can do--even if we can't yet see it or understand it.
So today, let's choose waiting on our God over our weariness. "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." (Gal.6:9) His promises never fail, and His Holy Spirit will enable us to do all that He commands. So let's walk by the Spirit, and today choose to reject weariness and instead to continue doing the good that our faithful Father puts before us.
Lord, help us. Help us, by the power of Your indwelling Holy Spirit, to not give in to our weariness but instead to continue doing whatever good You sovereignly place before us this day. Help us to cook the meals with a joyful attitude...to love those around us...to express our gratitude for the countless little blessings all around us...to encourage others who might be weary or discouraged...to thank grocery workers, truck drivers, policemen, nurses, doctors and all those serving our communities...to stay in Your Word and preach it to ourselves...to pray without ceasing...to put on our face masks and wash our hands and do our little bit to help contain this virus in order that the most vulnerable among us might be safer. And to do it all trusting You to use it for our greater good and Your greater glory. In Jesus' mighty and triumphant name. Amen.
To God be the glory.
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