Don’t Give In To Lethargy

Have you ever felt lethargic? “Lethargy is described as fatigued, feeling sluggish, weary, having no energy.” For the past week or two I’ve been “under the weather” with a nagging cold or flu … feeling crummy or even lethargic; the “bug” eventually kept me home. I found it hard to pray, hard to “hear the Lord”. My prayer was distracted and minimal. The “accuser of the brethren” did offer his advice with the predictable result of the “black hole” getting deeper. I could feel the demon of lethargy sneaking around. 

Once in this state, there’s a tendency for bad news to gravitate toward you …. like iron shavings attracted to a magnet. Whatever is not going well in the world, in the country, in business, in the church seems to find its way to my soul….”did you hear what happened in Congress, in the Ukraine, with the elections….” Auuuuugh.

I have to admit that this left me a bit discouraged… feeling lousy physically, stuck in the house, the “daily bad news”. In the midst of this deepening quicksand, I unwisely moved to an evaluation of my entire life, i.e. “But how are you doing Dave? Sure the world is circling the drain , but how are you doing?” I thought of the infamous rant by Coach Jim Mora of the New Orleans Saints when asked after a terrible loss about his team making the playoffs; he responded ” Playoffs …. Playoffs…. Playoffs … I just hope we can win another game…” I pictured me answering the question, “gee Dave are you looking forward to hearing well done, good and faithful servant & disciple …. me responding …. “disciple ? disciple? disciple…are you kidding me…I just hope I don’t end up in the pits of hell.” Well maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but when you’re sick and feeling a bit down, it’s probably not a good time to talk about the final judgement. Okay, where am I going with this BLOG that is also starting to circle the drain. Happily, there’s a good ending to this saga.

Well in the midst of all this, I began to hear another voice in my ear and it wasn’t from the “accuser of the brethren”. I began to hear a whisper,  “David, I’ve got you…. you are mine… I will not let you go.” I recognized the voice of the Lord. This voice brought peace and joy and hope and light. I thought of the beautiful passage from 1Kings 19:12…. The Lord spoke to Elijah , not in the wind or the fire or the earthquake, but in the still small voice.

God’s love for us is not based on us doing everything well, on us fixing all that’s wrong in the world, or even on the holiness of our own life. The Lord is always ON our side and AT our side…. working to change our heart, to cause us to trust him more. So when things seem dark, look up….. lift your gaze, look into the eyes of your loving God, and listen carefully for that still small voice. He is strong, and loving and will never abandon his children. And while the Giants may not make the playoffs, we are going to hear one day, well done good and faithful servant… come and enter into the joy of your master. And that is very good news.