Are You Tired Enough?

Weariness comes with weakness – of spirit, soul and body. You declare tiredness at this point, expressing your inability to move on. You let yourself stay down and beaten, resolving not to fight anymore because according to you, “I can’t fight anymore.” 

You go through emotional torture and grief that leave you smitten, defeated and conquered. Everything falls apart right in front of you, and your dear Lord isn’t doing anything about it. 

You declare, like Job, “Does it give you pleasure to see me like this? Wasn’t I better off dead?”  You are tired! You just came out of a battle, and whoosh! Here comes another! Because you are disappointed at how He lets a battle come before you even find the time to rest from a previous one.  

You fight, but with indignation in your heart against Him. So your fight is weak. You barely come out alive… You are tired! You recline…into depression, mourning your losses, licking your wounds. The devil is ecstatic! You are exactly where he wants you – joyless, hopeless, angry and distant from your cover. Oh, he can strike readily now! 

And he does just that: an arrow at your health, another at your job, yet another at your family…and for every hit, you wail. And for every wail, he rejoices! He’s made a game out of you – you’re his personal pleasurable pass time. “God surely has left me!”, you declare. Daily, you eat your tears and lick your wounds. You can neither pray nor wait. You do nothing! You are tired. 

The days go by, the afflictions arise and continue, here and there. And suddenly, one of those days, at your weakest, most tired state, having just been shot another arrow at a loved one, you cried out. You didn’t know where the strength came from, but you cried out like Blind Barthemeus: “Jesus! Son of David, have mercy on me!” 

And no! Jesus did not arise like a knight in shining armor to save the day; He didn’t come with swords and chariots ready to slay your adversary, the devil. He didn’t come as you expected Him to, once again bursting your bubble. Typical! You thought. But your heart was crying out for help…crying out for Him! You were in tune with Him at this point… And it was all the passage He needed to come in. 

He reminds you that you are His and that you had no business being the devil’s favorite pass time. Your eyes begin to open. He reminds you that He has given you power and authority to trample on serpents and scorpions. He reminds you that the sufferings you had were not to punish you but to grow you. He reminds you that you can be tired enough to fight the devil off your case. 

When you are tired enough, you fight more fiercely. The world, our flesh, the devil, tells us differently. Tells us to recline when we are tired. But no, David wept himself into encouragement, and thereafter found grace to pursue his enemies and recover all. 

When you’re tired enough, you are strengthened enough to fight. It’s time for a new fight. Sorry, devil, you lost this one! Be tired enough! Be tired enough to pursue. Be tired enough to overtake. Be tired enough to recover all.

@Comfort Alikwe 2022