“Stay In The Game”

Have you ever felt like taking your ball and going home?  It may be your life is getting to be a bit too much and you’re tired and even weary… maybe the problems are just getting you down…your prayers seem to be falling into a “black hole”…ie. where is the Lord on this one ….. I’m tired Lord… I really need a break. 

I think we’ve all felt this way from time to time, or maybe more than from “time to time”.  Perhaps even Jesus had some days where he was tempted to think, “maybe this wasn’t such a good idea”. 

Well the scriptures from the other day (Dec. 9^th) really speak to the problems of  weariness, losing heart, losing our “gospel joy”, pining away with grief…. the weary soul that is languishing, fainting, weak, staggering, falling, fainting”…. wooooooo, that’s a lot of ways to describe someone who is having a tough day. 

Actually my last couple of days have seemed a little heavy….. nothing drastically new, but yet a “little cloud” following me around. Fortunately I did recognize it as somewhat of an attack on my spirit…it could be the evil one, maybe a little physical fatigue, or some old Christmas memories climbing back into the picture. 

But what hit me is that “I need to cut this off at the pass”. I can’t allow this to grab hold of me. This can be a slippery slope if I’m not careful. So, what should I  do?

Well the truth is always a good place to start, and the scriptures I referenced earlier are very helpful. So, let’s take a look at what the Lord tells us.

• “My soul pines away with grief, by your word raise me up.” (Ps. 119)
•  “consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart”. (Hebrews 12:3)
•  “I will refresh the weary soul; every soul that languishes I will replenish.” (Jer. 31:25)
• “He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound…. They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength they will soar as with eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint..” (Is. 40:35-31)
• “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Mt. 11:28-30)

Well, it’s important to refresh our mind with God’s truth, to be reminded that the Lord is there to help us; he’s there to replenish us, to give us strength, to make vigor abound, to give us rest for our soul. 

As always the Lord is the one who can help us; for our part we need to turn to him and allow him to help us and to refresh us. He knows us ! He knows when we’re getting weary and he is always ready to take care of us and get us going again. 

So, forget about “taking your ball and going home”. The game is still going on and you and I have a part to play. I can hear the play by play announcer…”Two seconds left in the game, the ball goes to Dave* …he fires up a three … it’s good…….it’s good…..gooooooooooodddddddd ! Wow, can you believe that shot…..we win  by one point. From goat to hero…I’m sure glad we stayed in the game. 

‘* Insert your name.