Perhaps you’re having a day when you feel a little tired, when you’re struggling with aches in your bones or your heart. “What happened?” you might ask yourself, “I thought I was doing well.” And you are.

Things like growth, healing, and progress never happen as one continual climb. No, they come like waves. Victory, then struggle. Strength, then weariness. Success, then a setback. This isn’t a sign that you are falling behind. This is simply the natural rhythm of a human body and soul.

Jesus starts His ministry with a miracle at a wedding. He speaks powerfully and gains disciples. He has a well-known conversation with Nicodemus. Then He leaves town and we’re told this: “Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime” (John 4:6 NLT). You may be in a season of a long walk too.

A long walk of waiting for answers.

A long walk of healing.

A long walk of coming alongside someone you love.

A long walk of faithfulness in a hard situation.

A long walk of victory and seeing God do powerful things in your life.

If you’re tired and you need to sit down wearily, it isn’t a failure. It isn’t weakness. It isn’t proof that you can’t keep up.

If you’re tired and you need to sit down wearily, you’re following the example of a Savior who knows what it’s like to be human.

It’s at this well where Jesus sits down that He meets a Samaritan woman and has a transformational conversation with her. I love this because it shows us, God worked through Jesus when He was tired and weary.

Jesus needing to slow down and rest didn’t pause God’s plan for His life. Instead, it opened up a different kind of opportunity for God to work.

It’s easy to believe God can only use us when we’re at our best, strongest, and fastest. But God’s purposes don’t require a certain level of energy or a pace we must maintain. He can work in our slowest moments and our swiftest, in the times when we’re moving forward and when we can’t take one more step. He used Jesus when He turned water into wine at a wedding and when He sat down wearily by a well.

Why is this possible? Because the work of God doesn’t depend on us. “Jesus told them, ‘This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent’” (John 6:29 NLT).

Sometimes the hardest part of believing is trusting we’re loved in every moment.

You’re loved when you’re working.

You’re loved when you’re resting.

You’re loved when you’re full of energy.

You’re loved when you’re exhausted.

You’re loved when you’re ministering.

You’re loved when you’re curling up to take a nap.

You never have to be afraid that you’re letting God down by being human. Your loving God is compassionate toward your tiredness. Your faithful God is able to use even your weakest moments to show His strength. Your limitless God isn’t held back by your limitations.

Feeling tired doesn’t mean you’re failing; it means you’re trying hard. You only grow weary when you’ve put forth effort of some kind — emotional, mental, physical, professional, spiritual (maybe all of the above).

Who have you loved, although imperfectly?

What worthy cause have you fought for, even if victory isn’t sure yet?

How have you pursued a goal, chased a dream, nurtured your own healing?

When you’re tired, it can feel like the right thing to do is push harder. Spur on your soul like a stubborn horse. Add another shot to your coffee, stay up an hour later, lengthen your to-do list, shorten your patience with yourself.

But what if the invitation of Jesus, who described His heart as gentle and lowly, is to do the opposite? The One who spoke the world into being has no trouble with completing tasks, no concern that you won’t pull your weight. He even carried a cross so your burden would not be heavy but light.

Honor your tiredness the way you would a warrior. Say to it, “You are proof that much good has been done, much love has been shared, much life has been lived.” Welcome it the way you would a soldier returning from war. Feed it, let it sleep, wrap a blanket around its shoulders.

Trust that your tiredness is a visitor — it’s not here to stay. Give it space to be with you for a bit, and it will go on its way. You don’t have to ignore it, don’t need to evict it, just offer it some compassion and perhaps a cup of tea, some sacred silence, or an evening on the couch watching TV.

When you wake in the morning, it may be gone, having slipped away somewhere in the night. If it’s still there, that’s alright.

You’re a human being with bones and a soul, nerves and elbows, a heart that beats almost one hundred thousand times a day. Tiredness will sometimes be your companion. This isn’t a flaw; it’s simply a fact — one you share with all the other billions of people on this planet and a perfect Savior who once napped on a boat in a storm.

You are tired today.
You are fully loved.
You are doing well.
All of these can be true at the same time.

Listen to today’s devotion on the player below or on your fave podcast app!

Leave a Comment