The Remedy For Weariness: To Wait?

In one of the memorable passages of the Bible, the prophet Isaiah says that weary people can find new strength for living when they wait for the Lord. He writes, “…they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” And so often we find ourselves worn out and weak. There are many sources of weariness in our lives.

The philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre, once wrote a story about three souls being locked in a single room for eternity. In that story we find this line, “Hell is other people.” Other people, says Sartre, make us weary because they make us objects and only want to use us for their own advancement. Another source of weariness comes from the difficulties we have when our bodies become ill. We find ourselves weary and tired day after day as the illness sucks the vitality out of us. Yet another source is the spiritual weariness that comes from longing for God when we do not know him. Actually, all our weariness stems from that central longing in our hearts. We need God to revive our souls and give us a new life that can flourish.

Pray and Wait on the Lord to be Free of Weariness

It is that life in Jesus which we proclaim as Christians. So we have the opportunity to help those who are weary. What we at Christian Leaders Institute seek to do is to train Christians to be ready, willing, and able to be tools in God’s hands to renew and revive the world’s population. We as Christians can turn Sartre’s world upside down. With revival going on in our hearts, other people become our flock of eagles who soar on outstretched wings together with us. Together we gain the strength God provides in Jesus. Together we shed our weariness and find new life surging in our hearts.

At Christian Leaders Institute we have students who are in training to be the encourager of revival in the lives of weary people. One of our students in Nairobi, Kenya, says of her calling, “I counsel individuals and groups to grow and achieve their dreams as a Christian counselor. I am committed to social change…” Another from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, says, “My goal is to study the Bible more thoroughly and help the church to provide contextualized Bible Study materials and lead the Christian education ministry of the church.” He is doing that so he can turn back the weariness that he finds among his people in Addis Ababa. A pastor from Fort Portal, Uganda, writes of himself and his struggles with life. He says, “For a long time I became very blind- blind to the sinful life and lies that tortured my mind. I couldn’t sleep at night; everyday became an internal fight- a fight to find a purpose for my life, who would ever think that something like this could happen? Then again, how could anyone know? I wouldn’t let anybody in. God burned a desire in my heart …” Now he is getting training which he knows will enable him to be used of the Lord to bring revival to thousands. He discovered that when he waited upon the Lord, suddenly God gave him wings to soar like an eagle.

Each of these students and thousands more like them are examples of what the Bible means when it says, “6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” God is the one who is at work in the lives of those who study with us. God will bring his good work to completion in their lives. He will equip them to bring not weariness, but revival to cities, towns, villages, and even more remote places where people will discover a community in Jesus that frees them from sin, from guilt, from aimlessness to serve Jesus with great joy.