Willing to be Weary
What does weary mean?
I had to look it up. Not that I didn’t know what it meant but because I wanted a clearer picture for the word.
- weary – to be physically or mentally exhausted by hard work, exertion, strain
Yep.
I feel weary.
A full blown “I don’t feel good, this season of life is hard and I’m feeling farther out in the deep than I’ve ever felt before” kind of weary.
Stretched in ways I never dreamed.
Way outside the borders of my known abilities.
Weary.
In times when I feel weary, I seek out verses to help me through. Verses that will guide my heart, encourage my soul and speak truth to my heart.
Isaiah 43 is full of amazing verses. Verses that share truth, hope and the greatness of God. In fact, my favorite passage of scripture is found in Isaiah 43:1-3. A perfect “I feel weary” go to passage of scripture.
But, in reading through this chapter, another verse spoke that I hadn’t noticed before.
The verse was Isaiah 43:22.
“…you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel.”
It felt highlighted to my eyes because of the word weary.
I thought… “Yes, yes… God, I am. I am wearying myself right now. And this is awful. I’m sick. I’m exhausted. I’m fully weary, head to toe. And you WANT me here?”
Which caused me to take a good look at being weary. Why would God want me here? Why would he tell Israel that they weren’t weary for Him?
And, I felt the Holy Spirit sweetly whisper, “Because we can walk this together. I am with you. I will be your strength. I will help you today. There is power in weakness.”
Full blown weariness does something to your brain. It forces you to look outside yourself for strength. Weariness forces you to hold tight to faith, hope and trust. Weariness gives you no choice but to believe that God is holding you up.
Weariness brings you to a place of full surrender, of humbleness, of neediness that you wouldn’t otherwise know.
And God WANTS me to weary myself? He wants me to be here?
I had to read the verse again.
Yes. He does want a certain weariness for us all. Weariness that shows we are giving our all and weariness that develops us a true need for Him, for the greatness of who He is in our times of need.
This isn’t a “mean God wanting us to suffer” thing.
This is a loving God wanting us to experience His full power in our lives. He wants to show us we can fully rely on Him and not our own strength.
Remember, His power is perfect in weakness.
Of course, my head knows this to be true. I know that God requires our ALL. He desires our whole selves to be pushed to the limits for the cause of the gospel. He wants warriors in the Kingdom who will work until their dying breath for the sake of His Name.
We know that if we do that, it will be exhausting, wearying.
Being in the battle is physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally engaging in a way that will bring about whole body/mind/soul weariness.
Living on the front lines will bring you to that place of full surrender faster than anything.
A place of complete need for God to move and help in ways that ONLY our God can do. A weariness that demands God’s strength to step in so we are able to continue.
Then verse 24 says, “…but you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses.”
Ouch. So God was telling Israel that they tend to forget about wearying themselves for God but quite often live in a state of wearying God with their many sins, bad habits, ungodly tendencies and all around self-sufficiency?
When Isaiah wrote this to Israel, the people were not relying on God for anything. They were refusing to give up their spiritual rebellion and were wearying God with their sin.
They were not weary FOR God rather they were weary TO God.
Yet, God was calling them to stop wearying Him and to start wearying themselves for Him. He was calling them to change and repentance.
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
The same call, same question, same challenge is posed to us.
When we think about what does weary mean, we must think about it in a new way.
Basically, when was the last time we wearied ourselves in service to Him?
Or, do we just weary the heart of God with our sins and offenses?
Are we willing to live weary for the gospel? Are we willing to be weary?
We have to ask these questions daily.
When we sense a self-sufficiency, a work in our own strength, a season of ease… we need to wonder, are we willing to be weary?
What does weary mean in relation to our spiritual walk with God?
Are we willing to weary ourselves for Him so we can experience His power in our lives?
Hey Jenilee, I read this post, and I know you are going through a rough time there. You are sick, everything is difficult just to live and communicate, and so much more I don’t even know about because I am not in your shoes. I just think that your reference to Isaiah 23:22 may not be exactly what God is saying. The NIV does state “you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel.”. But the KJV, the. NLT, and the NASB, all basically say, “But thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.” KJV. The Israelites grew tired of doing the things God commanded. Not to mention doing them with the right attitude and motives! He wants us to do what He asks of us with His help, the first part of the verse: “Yet you have not called on me, O Jacob.”. The last thing I want to do is make your life harder there than it already is. I do live in a comfy environment with tons of conveniences. I just think the verse is really saying that the Israelites grew tired (weary) of doing the things God asked (and therefore God did not have the Israelites as a light to the nations). I don’t think God is asking us to be weary in service to him in this verse.
This post is really just meant to be a challenge to look at our lives as Christians and see if we are wearying ourselves in obedience to God. You have explained it in the context of that day. They had not been obedient in sacrifices or honoring the law. They were living with wrong attitudes and motives. And God was calling them back to himself.
As I read that chapter 43, I saw myself and a challenge to keep walking in obedience, even if it is hard and wearying. And I think God does ask us to weary ourselves in service to Him. I believe that the calling to go into all the world, be that your own town or a city far away, is a task that requires much and will be challenging. In the context of the chapter, it was very difficult for the people to give their best animals, their best offerings to God. It cost them financially and required sacrifice. They chose to continue wearying God with their offenses rather than honoring Him with their lives by doing what was required as His people.
For me, honoring God is about full obedience right now. The choice to keep walking this journey. I want to honor Him even if I get weary. I want to trust him even if it requires my “best animals and offerings”.
When I look at the two ways this verse is translated, it really is saying the same thing. Whether they did not weary themselves for God or if they were weary of God… looking deeply at both verses requires obedience. Obedience to keep following even if it causes weariness and obedience, even if what God is asking is hard to obey or give or do. To keep obeying even if we are tired of doing it. To be willing to be tired in the obedience. And like I said in the post, God is SO good. He meets us in our weariness and teaches us great things about Him and about what we are capable of doing when we give our all to him. That is a challenge that reaches across the globe, no matter what job God has called you to do or what season you are in. Are we living lives in full service, full obedience to Him?
Which brings me back to the very beginning of Isaiah 43… it doesn’t say “if” you pass through the waters or the fire or the flames… it says when. And knowing those kinds of struggles, challenges and mountains would be coming our way, God promises that we will pass through, walk through and cross over because He loves us and walks with us. Crossing rives and walking through fire is wearying. But God is with us! And the weariness shows us that it is GOD who brought us through not anything we could do on our own.
I hope that helps explain more of my thoughts through reading this chapter!