Isaiah 40:28-31
“Have
you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator
of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who
has no might he increases strength. Even
youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
BUT
they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with
wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not
faint.”
Ever since God called me to
ministry as a teenager, I have been regularly confronted with the issue of
“burn-out”. For those of you who are
unfamiliar with the lingo, it refers to the idea of serving to the extent where
you crash and cannot continue anymore.
This idea is not just relevant to those in vocational ministry; over the
years I’ve realized it seems somewhat like a “boogie-man” concept among
Christians in general. I know early on,
as I served in the church, there was always this thought in the back of my mind
that I needed to watch out and make sure I didn’t take on too much or else I’d
get burnt-out.
As I continued serving, I heard
story after story over the years, of people who had
served in the Church until they hit the end of their ropes. Many ended up
losing faith all-together as a result.
As I went through college and into ministry afterwards, the archives of
tragic tales began to combine with the experience of witnessing people fall
into that same fate around me. In response,
I became somewhat paranoid because I knew that my calling and my inherent
tendency to go all-in to whatever I invested myself in, made me a “high-risk”
person.
So, over the last few years ”burn
out” has become something I wanted to understand, not just in terms of trying
to figure out the personal reasons why people declare themselves “burnt-out”
but what the Bible has to say about the subject.
First thing I found was that there
are no Biblical accounts of “burn-out”.
Now of course such a phrase as “burn-out” probably wouldn't make it into
Biblical vocabulary, but from Genesis to Revelation, there are no accounts of
people who are called by God to do something and at some point abandoning that
calling. Now, I don’t think that means
that it did not necessarily happen, but what I see is an overwhelming evidence of
the faithfulness of God in sustaining his servants. There may not be stories that allude to some
kind of form of early church burn out, but I do see an abundance of charges and
promises that fight against the current that pulls people towards that
end. The passage above is one of them.
There are two parts in particular
that stand out to me in this passage.
First, there is a complete disclosure that the tasks we face are more
than we can handle. The task is life in
general. The passage is totally honest
about the difficulty, stating that even youths and young men, full of energy,
potential, and passion will fall short.
The task will prove too much for the most capable of us. But this only reveals the miraculous nature spoken
of in the second part I’d like to highlight: The Promise.
Depending on the Bible translation you are reading, verse 31 states that
those who trust, hope or wait on the Lord will renew their strength. In the most basic terms, those who place
their faith in and rely on God find not just a one-time refill, but a continual
recharging of their spiritual batteries.
Trust in God proves to be the way to tap into an infinite and divine
power source.
In the last few months this verse has
been one I've clung to and recited many times in a plea to God for the strength
to get through the tasks before me.
However, as I've had conversations with many compassionate people around
me who look at my life and the things that I have on my plate, they often
caution me to be mindful of the risk of burn-out. They express it in different ways, but I know
the thought behind it is a sincere concern and coupled with the hope that I
would not take on such a burden that I would be crushed beneath it. As I have pondered on those conversations,
the counsel I've received and what scripture says, my hearts perspective is
this:
Man was made to work and work hard
and with excellence (Colossians 3:23).
God has shown time and time again that he equips those whom he calls,
and the grace and means he provides are sufficient (ex: Moses, Gideon,
Paul). What I do see is that burn-out in
every instance I've heard or witnessed is a direct connection to a
disconnection from the promise of Isaiah 40.
I know in the conversations I've had with those who have reached that
point that trust or hope in the Lord was never something they displayed. But what I have seen and experienced is that
those who take God at His Word (even though they find themselves in over their
heads on occasion), and relentlessly trust the Lord, receive God’s provision of
the resources and grace needed to press on according to the call they have received.
For me, the only end to a life of
service I see in scripture, which all Christians are called to, is the end of
life itself. I know I am still young and
there are far greater burdens that I will most likely have to bear in this
life, but what I do know is that scripture is full of promises and God has
shown his faithfulness to fulfill them. This faithfulness combats the doubts
and fears that typically lead to burn-out.
For example: Matthew 5:3-10, 6:25-34, and 11:28-30, just to list a
couple from the Gospel of Matthew alone.
The sovereign faithfulness and goodness of God far exceeds the
difficulties and challenges of that which he has called us to do. It is more than we can do on our own, true,
but that’s the glorious point. When we
obey the calling of God in our lives we have the privilege of being constantly
sustained, empowered, and equipped in miraculous fashion as the surpassing
power of God is put on display in the midst of his work in and through us to
accomplish that which is otherwise impossible.
Such is the upward call of God for those who are living in Christ and
are being conformed to his likeness.
There is no greater purpose, cause, joy or reward.
I say this not to make light of
those that are serving self-sacrificially and find themselves weak and
weary. My intent is not to disregard the
struggle with a wagging finger saying, “shame on you if you’ve ever considered
yourself on the brink of burn- out or completely burnt-out”. No, my prayer is that if you find your souls
in that position, you would know that you are not alone in this struggle. Be
encouraged that together we, the Church, live in light of the presence and
promises of God because the world and the Church is in desperate need of those
who will not grow weary from doing good (Galatians 6:9).
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