And the fact is that it’s not just this time of year. I find myself getting weary and tired often. Life is like that. It can wear you down. Life is hard work and hard work makes you tired. And what’s strange is that you would think faith would exempt us from tiredness. Shouldn’t Christians be something like the energizer bunny always buzzing around doing good deeds with perpetual smiles on our faces? Sometimes I may feel that special energy but for the most part I find myself grinding through life.
Add to the daily struggles of life, the Bible talks about an evil force that is working against us making life even more wearisome. The devil seems to delight in our exhaustion and leverages that tiredness against us tempting us just to give up. “Stop resisting the temptation and just give in,” he whispers to us. “You’ve done enough good. Let someone else step up this time,” he seductively says. “You’re tired. Take a break,” says the tempter.
Being tired is hard, but is giving up the answer?
Recently I went fishing with my son. It was at one of those stocked ponds where you are guaranteed to catch fish. And catch fish we did. Big fish. Heavy fish.
After just a short wait I hooked one and got all excited. I began reeling and reeling and reeling. This was taking me way more time and energy than I expected. This fish was not giving up easily. After a while I called out to my younger, stronger, and more experienced son and asked him to take over. I was tired. Expecting him to come to my rescue, he refused! He said, “Dad, I know you’re tired but the fish is getting tired too. Don’t give up before he does."
You may be getting tired fighting that temptation. You may be weary doing good. But that evil force working in your life - wearing you out urging you to give up - is getting tired too.
Jesus got tired of fighting him, but he didn’t give up and after a while Satan wore out. One of the most beautiful and reassuring scriptures that helps me in my battle is after Jesus withstood those temptations of the evil one and the Bible records, “Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” (Matthew 4:11) The devil got tired and relief came in the form of divinely sent angels.
In the letter of James, we are reminded of same truth: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) The devil is persistent but he is not tireless. Don’t give up before he does.
Heeding my son’s advice, I kept after that fish, and sure enough he wore out. We netted him and pulled him out of the water. I had won the battle.
This year may have been more than you bargained for. You may be tired. You may be thinking of giving up the faith and giving in to evil. You may be thinking of just giving up. But don’t. Don’t give up before he does and someday, hopefully soon, the devil will wear out and those refreshing angels will arrive.
