“I will hasten to my place of refuge
from the stormy wind and tempest.”

Sometimes I just get weary of it all. There are times when the stress and pressures of life exhausts my strength and I grow tired in both body and spirit. I find myself feeling just like King David did when he said, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove. I would wander far away. I would lodge in the wilderness. I would hasten to my place of refuge from the stormy wind and tempest." Psalms 55: 6-8. Have you ever felt like that?

One of the problems of being human is that our strength is  exhaustible. We are not like the Ever-ready Rabbit that keeps going - and going - and going. Our bodies do run down. Our physical and emotional strength becomes depleted and we grow weary and tired and we want to withdraw from everything and everybody. We're tired of giving and we're tired of doing and we're tired of serving. The joy of it all seems to be gone. In Southeast Missouri, we use to refer to this as, "the creek running dry." In the church, it's called the "well-doers burnout."

There are two ways we can grow weary in life:
First - there is the weariness that automatically comes with growing old. Those of us who have passed the prime of life know this to be true by experience. The younger generation is in the process of learning this. They are at an age now when they think that they'll always look as good and feel as strong as they do right now. The older generation knows that feeling because we too once had that same mindset. Like the youth of today, we gave no thought to the fact that youthfulness is a stage of life that quickly passes. Eventually there comes the time when youth gives way to age and the energy level of the body starts to diminish and it starts to experience aches and pains that weren't there before. Where we use to greet each new day with, "Good morning, Lord," we find ourselves now greeting it with, "Good Lord, it's morning."

Second  - There is a weariness that comes to us that has nothing to do with our age. It's a weariness that is the result of our taking on the demands, the responsibilities, and the obligations of everyday living. This weariness can come to young and old alike. It doesn't consider age for a requirement for it's presence in a person's life. Most people discover early that there is no pathway in life that does not have its share of troubles and trials, discouragement and difficulties, detours and delays, any of which can cause us to lose heart in life and grow weary in well doing. The Apostle Paul gives us a word of encouragement in this area with these words in Galatians 6:9, "Let us not lose heart in doing well, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary."

Any surrender to this kind of weariness is dangerous to our physical and spiritual health for two reasons.

(a) It causes us to become extremely  vulnerable  and open to enemy attacks. The story of  Absalom's  pursuit of King David in II Samuel 17: 1-2, is an illustration of this truth. Absalom's advisor Ahitophel is saying to him concerning David, "Please let me choose 12,000 men that I may rise and pursue David tonight. And I will come upon him while he is weary and exhausted..." Ahitophel knew that when a person gets weary, their defenses come down and they become a candidate for defeat. A weary person  encounters feelings of despair and depression which, if not overcome, will eventually bring that person to the place of throwing up their hands and giving up on life.

"We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don't know why things happen as they do, but we don't give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going."
II  Corinthians 4: 8-9  (LB)