BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

B V O V : 2 3 "I put in 16-hour days. I work seven days a week. I haven't had a vacation in years." Ever heard someone say something like that? Even believers and ministers can fall into this habit. They talk about how tired they are, convinced that fatigue is proof—to God and others—of how much they're accomplishing. It's one thing to be tired, catch up on some sleep and be ready to go. It's another to live exhausted—to not only be physically tired, but to also become weary deep down inside. Our society has a name for that kind of weariness: chronic fatigue syndrome. It's a disease characterized by sleep abnormalities, widespread pain, profound fatigue that lasts over six months, and other symptoms that are only made worse by activity. If that's where you are, then let this be your wake-up call: Chronic fatigue is a sickness to be resisted by faith, not a badge to be worn in pride. As believers, we must deal with living and ministering chronically fatigued. It's time for a change. God's Power for Us We serve a powerful God. We're not meant to live in a constant state of weariness—because He provides all the strength we need to do what He's called us to do. Isaiah 40:28-29 says, "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength" (New King James Version). God is omnipotent, and He gives His strength to the weak. Verses 30-31 promise that we can access it: "Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, by Jeremy Pearsons and not faint." We can count on God to give us strength and freedom from weariness. Jesus was the perfect example of this. Jesus' Cure for Exhaustion Jesus understood what it was like to be weary. In John 4, we read that He and His disciples had been ministering in Judea. On their way to Galilee, they had to go through the city of Sychar in Samaria. They stopped by a well that their forefather, Jacob, had given to his son. That's where Jesus rested after "being wearied from His journey" (verse 6. NKJV). The Wuest Expanded Translation of the Bible puts it this way: "Jesus [was] wearied to the point of exhaustion." Jesus was so tired He couldn't take another step. He sent His disciples into the city to buy food (verse 8) while He rested. His tiredness was understandable, wasn't it? After a long, exhausting walk, who wouldn't have been weary? It was while He was there resting that He had His famous conversation with the Samaritan woman. By the time the disciples returned to where Jesus was, He was refreshed. They didn't understand. When they had left Him, they thought He'd been unable to go another step. After they returned, He was full of life. They thought someone must have brought Him something to eat. Instead, Jesus said to them: "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" (verse 34). You see, that conversation Jesus had was Him doing God's God's not thanking any of us for doing a bunch of stuff He didn't tell us to do.

• Cover