Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding. (Isaiah 40:28)
I’ve found myself in a bit of a spiritual rut: one of those seasons that find my prayers dry, my study time uninspired, my discipline waning - and sometimes nonexistent. When I find myself in those precious silent moments during my toddler’s naptime, it seems I can come up with a multitude of ways I’d rather spend my time – or think I need to spend my time - than having quiet time before God doing my devotional. Today was no different, but as I opened my devotional this morning and read the words of Isaiah, I was suddenly aware that God KNOWS my struggle. He understands where I am spiritually and emotionally. Coming to Him in these moments isn’t about fulfilling some legalistic duty, it isn’t about being able to check off the box that says “did my devotionals every day” or getting my daily devotional merit badge – it is about coming before the everlasting God, the creator of all the earth and worshipping Him for who He is. It is about drawing my energy from HIM, not from some effort within myself, but from HIM! It is about giving God the opportunity to teach me more about Himself through His word. What a joy! What a privilege!
Sadly, I’ve often viewed missing my devotional time with God a little like a missed dental appointment. I know I should go because it’s good for me. I feel guilty about missing it and I figure I’ll have to make it up later. But it suddenly struck me that perhaps I should view this missed time with God more like I’d view a missed trip to Disneyland than a missed trip to the dentist. I’m not suggesting our faith gives us a life lived in the always happy fantasy world of Disney, but we should regard the time we spend alone with the living God with at least that much anticipation.
What can I learn about my heavenly Father today? Haven’t we heard? Don’t we understand? He is the everlasting God! The Creator!! And he wants time with each of us, one-on-one, to reveal Himself to us.
As a Christian, my purpose for existence is simply to bring glory to the Father and serve Him with my life. But I find that as my time alone with the Father wanes, so does my energy for service to Him. My path gets clouded and cluttered. I struggle with focus as to what I need to be doing and what direction I need to be taking. Those directions once so clear during times of devotion to Him become murky and uncertain, and I find myself tired just thinking about where to go from here. It is THIS struggle that Chamber’s addresses in today’s devotional. What do we do when we find ourselves exhausted by our service? Chambers asks us:
Has the way in which you have been serving God betrayed you into exhaustion? If so, then rally your affections. Where did you start the service from? From your own sympathy or from the basis of the Redemption of Jesus Christ? Continually go back to the foundation of your affections and recollect where the source of power is.
It is so easy to get caught up in service for the sake of service rather than for the sake of Christ. We may be doing honorable work, but if we aren’t truly doing it for Jesus, if we aren’t truly seeking Him as our wellspring, then we will find ourselves exhausted by it. We can’t be much use to the kingdom if we are burned out and overwhelmed and the only way to avoid that is to constantly, consistently go back to the foundation and recollect where our source of power is: Christ alone. He never grows weak or weary.
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