Your body is heavy under the burden of the heat, and your breath comes short. Yet consider what the soul gains when the flesh is thus humbled. For the Word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to divide soul and spirit, and it discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. This same Word who knows your frame also bore the weight of the day in His own flesh, and He did not flee from weariness. You cry out for healing and strength, and rightly so. But do you not see that even in this faintness you are called to lean upon Him more utterly? The body indeed craves rest, but the spirit can remain wakeful in prayer. Even a sigh lifted to heaven is heard.
Many a time a single earnest petition, offered in the midst of exhaustion, has availed more than long prayers spoken at ease. Did not the Apostle teach that we have power to walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit? Yet the flesh resists, and it is no marvel that in such stifling weather it complains. Do not then be angry with your body, but rule it gently as a servant, and bid it wait upon the needs of duty. For if you have much to do, is that not a sign that the Master has entrusted work to your hands? And He who sends the labor will also send the strength when it is needed. He who opened the eyes of the blind and made the lame to walk is not far from you now.
Some may ask, “How can I call on Him when I am so drowsy I can scarcely form the words?” But He hears the inward cry even before it is shaped. The Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for speech. Only do not let go of hope. Many have heard the promise of deliverance and remained insensible, but afterwards at one word have been restored. A tree receives many blows before it falls, yet it is the repeated strokes that loosen the root. So it is with the soul: the repeated prayers, the constant turning to Him, even in weakness, prepare for a sudden refreshment.
When you lie down, if you cannot frame a long petition, say only, “Lord, help me.” When you rise again to your tasks, say, “Lord, speed me.” These short darts of prayer will not fail to pierce heaven. For the promise stands sure: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. There is no exception for those who call from a bed of exhaustion or from a room thick with summer air. He who commanded the winds and the waves can also command a cooling breath for your frame and peace for your mind.
Do not then flee from this trial as though it could harm you without His permission, nor yet make light of it as though the body were of no account. Both soul and body were bought with a price. Offer your fatigue to Him as a small sacrifice, and He will give back strength in His own time. I am fully persuaded that those who persevere in such little acts of faith will bring forth abundant fruit. You who have ten thousand things to do, do the first of them: cast your care upon Christ, and then rise up in His might. The feet of those who bring good tidings are beautiful even when they tread a weary path, for they are upheld by grace.
May the Lord Jesus himself, the great Physician, look upon your distress, rebuke the fever of the air, calm your breathing, and so quicken your mortal body that you may give thanks and serve Him with gladness.