In Part 1 we covered the body, also known as God’s temple. We are living sacrifices, not dying sacrifices! And we looked at the two ditches; one of neglect and the other indulgence.
But there is a kind of tiredness that no amount of sleep will touch. You can go to bed at nine and wake up at seven and still feel like you have been hit by a truck. The body is rested but the soul is tired. And a well-slept anxious Christian is still an exhausted Christian.
A lot of the tiredness we feel today is not from a lack of sleep. It is from a lack of spiritual rest. And the only Person who gives that kind of rest is Christ.
Physical rest is not the deepest rest available to us. The deepest rest is a Person.
The Rest That Works
Matthew 11:28-29 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
Jesus does not offer a nap; He offers rest unto your souls.
That is the rest that keeps working even when the body is tired. This rest depends on your soul knowing Christ.
“Come unto me” is the whole invitation. The tired Christian is commanded to come!
Why We Are Actually So Tired
The reason we are filled with anxiety and tiredness is because the things of the world have taken a higher place than God.
We check our phones the second we wake up and the day starts before our feet hit the floor. We scroll through other people’s lives before we open God’s Word. We refresh the news, the inbox, the notifications, the accounts. We carry the weight of everything happening everywhere and we have not spent one minute with the One who holds it all up.
We are worn out because we are worshiping the wrong things and getting nothing back from them.
When we detach from those things and they lose their priority, and God takes His proper place, the anxiety and weary soul melts off. The problems never disappear but they finally fit in hands bigger than ours.
Philippians 4:6-7 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Be careful for nothing means be anxious for nothing. Prayer moves the weight off your shoulders and onto His. And the peace that follows is not peace you can explain. It passes all understanding. You cannot logic your way into it, and you cannot binge-watch your way into it, and you cannot vacation your way into it. It comes from God through prayer, and nothing else produces it.
When God’s People Hit the Mental Wall
The Bible treats mental exhaustion as a real thing too!
Elijah wanted to die under a juniper tree. 1 Kings 19:4 “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”
This was the same Elijah who had just called down fire from heaven and it’s clear the victory did not protect him from a mental crash. The very next chapter he was under a tree begging to die.
Jeremiah wept until his eyes ran out of tears. Lamentations 2:11 “Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
Job cursed the day he was born. Job 3:1 “After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.”
David hid in caves full of fear and worry. Paul wrote that he was pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that he despaired even of life (2 Corinthians 1:8).
Every one of these men was a servant of God. Every one of them hit a wall. God did not shame any of them for hitting it.
Notice what God did with Elijah under the juniper tree.
1 Kings 19:5-8 “And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights.”
God fed him and let him sleep. Then He fed him again and let him sleep again. Only after Elijah was rested and fed did God gently pointed his thinking with a still small voice.
God took care of Elijah’s body before He addressed his heart.
When you are running on empty, you cannot process spiritual truth well. You need food, sleep, and a break before you can hear clearly. God knew that about Elijah, and He knows it about you too.
Caring for the Soul
Taking care of your mental and spiritual well-being biblically means:
1. Read the Word daily. No exceptions.
2. Pray honestly. Bring your weights to God.
3. Keep God in His proper place. Anxiety loses its grip when the things of the world lose their priority. If God is small in your heart, everything else becomes huge.
4. Do not isolate. When you are struggling, the flesh tells you to hide. That is a lie. Get around godly people who will pray with you and point you to God.
5. Sleep, eat, and move. Basic obedience with the body helps the soul. Elijah needed food and sleep. You are not different.
6. Guard what goes in your mind. What you feed the soul it becomes. Endless news, endless scrolling, and endless drama shape you. The Word shapes you differently.
The Christian Who Cannot Rest
A Christian who cannot rest has a Christ problem above a schedule problem. Something is more important to him than Jesus in your life.
For some it is money. For others it is reputation. For some it is control. For others it is other people’s opinions.
Whatever it is, it is sitting in a chair that only Christ is meant to sit in, and no amount of sleep will fix a soul that is bowing to the wrong king.
The rest comes when the king changes.
You are not your own. You were bought with a price. Your soul was bought too, and it was made to rest in the One who bought it.
Come unto Him and learn of Him. Find rest unto your soul.
That is the only rest that actually works.
