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No Fuel – Empty Tank

By December 15, 2011August 30th, 2022Devotional

Okay. I admit it. I give – I cry Uncle! I have been running non-stop for the whole week now and it’s only Thursday evening. Still one more day to go, and by tomorrow night, I will be coasting into the week-end on fumes. I would think that with Christmas coming in another week or so, things would be calming down and grinding to a halt for the holidays. But no such luck for me. I am busier than I have been in months.

Now I am by no means complaining about the work, but as I get older, I just don’t have the stamina that I had years ago. I used to be able to go like the Energizer bunny; but I just don’t have that kind of energy anymore – but I don’t think that I am alone.

Andrew, our son, came over this morning for a discussion concerning the year-end projects for our clients and he was as tired as I was. We have both been far busier than we were several months ago and there are no signs of slowing down. Part of the problem is that I am surrounded by people who are, for the most part, at least 10 if not 20 years younger than I am and they just don’t run out of energy, at least most of the time. In an odd sort of way, seeing Andrew really beat this morning did my heart good. After all, I know that I am healthy, in good shape and yet I am having trouble keeping up with all the young bucks.

Most of what I am doing is strategy, and engineering various projects. For sure, some of the newer stuff I am working on takes more time because I am not yet familiar with the recent clients and their annual cycles of work. I’m a quick study, but that’s not cutting it. And as I am sure that you know, mental work can end up being physically exhausting.

One of the things that has changed in my life is the time I have to spend in my devotions. I am burning the midnight oil and I miss my time getting re-energized in the Bible. I look forward to kicking back and relaxing; investing in my relationship with God but I have been delinquent. Writing this blog is one of the real highlights of my day because I get to look through verses and decide what to write about. And all this causes me to listen for that still, quiet voice of God prompting me to create the post each day.

But it is not enough. I need more time with the Creator of the Universe. So you get the idea, and I am sure that you have experienced some of the same things in your life from time to time. So what to do?

The answer is really quite simple. I’m too busy not to spend time with God. Get it? I must make the time to re-prioritize my life and assign the proper importance to each area of my life. Because if I get overly tired, then it is a short hop to sick, and from there it goes downhill. So, this is a wake-up call to get a fair amount of rest. That’s what the Sabbath was created for. It doesn’t necessarily need to be on a Sunday, but God recognizes that we all need a rest from the normal, and sometimes not so normal, chores of the week.

And I know that if I don’t provide time for rest, my body will do that for me. I got a warning last Thursday when my back went out. It forced me to take it easy last Friday and a little over the week-end. But Monday, limping and hobbled over, I was back at it. On hindsight, not so smart. I didn’t get the rest I needed and now I am am more tired that ever.

So let’s cut to the chase – tonight’s verse is from Heb. 4:9-11, “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.” And what is that disobedience that the writer of Hebrews is talking about? Not taking the proper amount of rest…..

My encouragement tonight is to let you know that God expects us to rest. In fact, it is something that God requires of us to be obedient to His will for our lives. My prayer is that you will spend more time with God – I know that I intend to. In that way, we can experience the peace and joy that comes from being in communion with the God of the Universe. And that’s the kind of fuel that can really fill up your tank…..

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