Silas
Beloved of All
Your honesty about how tired you feel is heard, and God hears it too. Wanting to stay in bed, feeling worn out by work, wondering how much longer you can keep going, those are heavy feelings and it is good you brought them to Jesus.
The Bible shows us that the weariness and aging we experience is not how God first made us. He created the body to live and renew itself, but when sin entered the world something broke. A corruption entered that causes our cells to break down and not reproduce as they should. Many who study the body now recognize that this breakdown is actually abnormal, an intruder in creation. After the flood the protection that once shielded the earth was removed and we became more exposed to forces that hasten that decay, which is one reason lifespans shortened. God understands that you feel this in your own body as an older man. He knows what it is to be physically exhausted. When Jesus hung on the cross His body felt that same kind of deep muscle fatigue and weakness where strength simply gives way. He knows what tiredness feels like.
That is why He invites you to come to Him for strength today, not just to endure the hours until you can get home. When we try to carry everything in our own energy and do things apart from what God gives us to do, we burn out quickly. Burnout often comes from carrying burdens He never asked us to carry, or trying to do His work in our own flesh. Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light, and that it is a joy to do the will of the Father. That does not mean work becomes effortless, but it means He will carry the weight with you if you look to Him moment by moment at your job, as a husband and as a father.
I also hear your hope for rest at home with alcohol. I understand the desire to look out the window and just feel okay for a little while, but that kind of drink will not give you the rest or peace you are longing for. It can dull the feelings for a moment but it cannot renew your strength or heal your heart. True rest is found in Christ Himself. If alcohol has become a way to cope, I encourage you to be honest with God about it and to ask Him to be your comfort and refuge instead. He is able to give you real peace and to help you wake up and face the day with a clearer mind.
God does want to help you be a better person, a better husband to your wife, a better father to your adult children, and a better manager at work, but that change comes through Jesus. Forgiveness for anything that displeases Him is not earned by trying harder, it is given through faith in Jesus Christ alone, who died and rose again. When you confess your sins to Him, He forgives and He begins to change you from the inside.
I am praying for you, that God will give you strength for today at work, that He will soften the hearts of your bosses, coworkers, customers, and your wife, and that He will guard and care for your wife and children. I am praying that you will experience His nearness in your weariness and that He will teach you to see His hand even in this hard season. The secret to enduring is to see God at work right in the middle of the trial.
And there is hope ahead. When Jesus establishes His kingdom there will be no more aging, no more decay, no more blindness or deafness or infirmity. He will make all things whole and give perfect health in a perfect world. That day is coming, and until then He promises to walk with you through each tired day and give you the strength you need for that day.
The Bible shows us that the weariness and aging we experience is not how God first made us. He created the body to live and renew itself, but when sin entered the world something broke. A corruption entered that causes our cells to break down and not reproduce as they should. Many who study the body now recognize that this breakdown is actually abnormal, an intruder in creation. After the flood the protection that once shielded the earth was removed and we became more exposed to forces that hasten that decay, which is one reason lifespans shortened. God understands that you feel this in your own body as an older man. He knows what it is to be physically exhausted. When Jesus hung on the cross His body felt that same kind of deep muscle fatigue and weakness where strength simply gives way. He knows what tiredness feels like.
That is why He invites you to come to Him for strength today, not just to endure the hours until you can get home. When we try to carry everything in our own energy and do things apart from what God gives us to do, we burn out quickly. Burnout often comes from carrying burdens He never asked us to carry, or trying to do His work in our own flesh. Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light, and that it is a joy to do the will of the Father. That does not mean work becomes effortless, but it means He will carry the weight with you if you look to Him moment by moment at your job, as a husband and as a father.
I also hear your hope for rest at home with alcohol. I understand the desire to look out the window and just feel okay for a little while, but that kind of drink will not give you the rest or peace you are longing for. It can dull the feelings for a moment but it cannot renew your strength or heal your heart. True rest is found in Christ Himself. If alcohol has become a way to cope, I encourage you to be honest with God about it and to ask Him to be your comfort and refuge instead. He is able to give you real peace and to help you wake up and face the day with a clearer mind.
God does want to help you be a better person, a better husband to your wife, a better father to your adult children, and a better manager at work, but that change comes through Jesus. Forgiveness for anything that displeases Him is not earned by trying harder, it is given through faith in Jesus Christ alone, who died and rose again. When you confess your sins to Him, He forgives and He begins to change you from the inside.
I am praying for you, that God will give you strength for today at work, that He will soften the hearts of your bosses, coworkers, customers, and your wife, and that He will guard and care for your wife and children. I am praying that you will experience His nearness in your weariness and that He will teach you to see His hand even in this hard season. The secret to enduring is to see God at work right in the middle of the trial.
And there is hope ahead. When Jesus establishes His kingdom there will be no more aging, no more decay, no more blindness or deafness or infirmity. He will make all things whole and give perfect health in a perfect world. That day is coming, and until then He promises to walk with you through each tired day and give you the strength you need for that day.
