Tired of Doing Nothing
Jeremiah 20:9
Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
It is funny how our minds work. Just a simple word or phrase can spark a flood of memories. Recently in Sunday School class, Sister Deb said "There is joy in work". When she did, I began to remember my first job at the Piggly Wiggly in Aurora. Truth be told, I feel like I could write a book about the Piggly Wiggly, because it just holds a lot of fond memories for me. Luckily for you I will not. Those memories, while fond for me, would probably bore you. However, there is one story I wish reminiscence.
There are two main components to every store, first is the Store Front. This section of the store displays the good in which you want to buy. The second part is the Back Room, which houses merchandise (overstock) that cannot be placed in the Store Front. Anyone who has ever worked in retail, or in groceries will tell you that the Back Room is one of the best places to be. It is easy to hide from customers, and even your boss if you know how.
While at Piggly Wiggly, I used to work with a very talented young man. His talent lied not in his ability to work, but his ability to hide from it. During most of his shifts, he pretended to be working in the backroom. One time, he took several pallets of overstock boxes and made a small fort in the corner of the backroom. He closed himself in and went to sleep for a few hours and later came out of hiding. On one particular day, when his shift was over, he told our boss that he was tired and wanted to go home to sleep. I asked of him, "Why because you did not do anything to be tired." Needless to say, he was not very happy with me in calling him out in front of our boss.
I was very frustrated with this and I told my father what happened at work. My Dad began to laugh, and told me something that I have never forgotten. He basically said that it is actually more tiring to hide from work than to actually do it. At the time, I did not quite understand it, but as I gained more life experience it made more sense. At all of the odd jobs that I had through my life, I learned it was easier to just do my job, than to avoid my responsibilities.
After remember this small event in my life, the Lord reminded me of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was living in a very tough time, and he had a even tougher job that the Lord had called him to do. Jeremiah at the time was living in Judah and the children of Israel (as per usual) had backslid from God. There is a lot that we can discuss just about what was happening in the nation of Judah, but at this time we won't. Just understand this, the people were self-indulgent, narcissistic, and completely apathetic to the word of God.
However, no matter how evil people will get, God always sends someone to help. This is why Jeremiah was sent, his job was to tell the people to come back to God. He would preach the gospel and try to lead the people back to where they needed to be, but the people of Israel were hard-headed. They sneered and buffeted Jeremiah, and would not turn back to God. This broke Jeremiah's heart and he would weep for his people. He would cry and beg for people to come back, and yet they still would not hearken unto his words. It was because of Jeremiah's love and concern for his people, that he would later be called the weeping prophet. He weeped for his people's salvation.
OH, THAT WE WOULD WEEP FOR OUR FAMILIES!
OH, THAT WE WOULD WEEP FOR OUR FRIENDS! OH, THAT WE WOULD WEEP FOR OUR CO-WORKERS!
Unfortunately, no matter how Jeremiah weep, nothing would happen. It was at this time that Jeremiah was at his breaking point and he said:
I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name.
Jeremiah was tired of failing; he was tired of trying so hard and nothing would happen. It had become to much for him, and he just gave up. He thought that if he did not even try to preach God's Word, it would mean that he could not fail.
How about you? Has God called you to do something? Have you been called to do a work? Preaching? Teaching? Singing? Praying? Testifying? ANYTHING? Do you believe as Jeremiah did, that there is no point in trying and it is easier to do nothing? If so, I want you to look at what Jeremiah said next:
But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Just as that young man in Piggly Wiggly was tired of hiding from his responsibilities, so was Jeremiah with his Godly Responsibilities. Just as the young man hid behind boxes, Jeremiah tried to hide behind indifference, and apathy.
JEREMIAH COULD NOT TAKE HIDING ANYMORE!
JEREMIAH WAS WEARY WITH FORBEARING!
HE WAS TIRED OF DOING NOTHING!
OH, THAT WE WOULD GET TIRED OF DOING NOTHING!
OH, THAT WE WOULD DO WHAT GOD HAD CALLED US TO DO!
WE WOULD NOT BE SO WEARY, TIRED AND BROKEN!
BUT WE WOULD MOUNT UP WITH WINGS AS EAGLES!
WE WOULD RUN AND NOT BE WEARY! WE WOULD WALK AND NOT FAINT!
IF ONLY YOU COULD FEEL WHAT I FEEL AS I TYPE THIS!
I AM NOT TIRED!
Never thought I could shout while typing, but it happened, and I will not edit that. That would be a disservice to what I felt from God.
However, I need you know this. If you are tired with forbearing, then it is time to stop hiding behind what ever spiritual boxes you have. Maybe like that young man in Piggly Wiggly, you have created a fort of doubt, self-loathing, indifference, apathy, bitterness, and fear. You may even be pretending to work for the Lord, trying show that you are good worker, but all your really doing is hiding.
Nevertheless, if you are hiding from your spiritual responsibilities, I pray you get tired. I hope you get so tired of doing nothing. I hope God's word begins to burn in you and like Jeremiah and you cannot stay still. I hope that you get so miserable, that you have no choice but to do something.
Because, if you do something for the Lord, God will bless it.
