Burnout

Burnout

(Psalm 131:1-3; Ecclesiastes 1:1-18)

Yearly Theme:  “Goodness is… Glorious”

Series Title:  “Beyond the Noise”

October 6^th, 2024

Something to think about:

In her book, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, Ruth Haley Barton writes,

“The human mind is perpetually busy trying to control things, trying to figure things out, clinging to the latest idea, grasping at the nearest straw.  It works very hard trying to make sense of things by endlessly seeking to put everything into categories and boxes and systems of thought.  Sometimes even God Himself gets relegated to a category or box in my mind rather than being free to be God in my life.  It seems that my mind will go to great lengths to fix things, control things, and defend against anything that would disrupt my carefully constructed equilibrium.

“One of my most startling realizations about the unceasing nature of my mind’s work came the first time my husband told me that during the night I had sat up in bed and launched into the introduction to a new message.  What surprised him the most was that this sleepy sermon was coherent and came out in complete sentences.  He said his only regret was that he hadn’t taken notes.  I wished he had taken notes too because then I would have had my introduction.  We have laughed often about this idiosyncrasy, but in this strange way I have discovered that even when we are able to get our body to rest, it can be a more daunting task to quiet and rest the mind.”[1]

As we continue our series today on Solitude and Silence, we need to address the importance of what it means to rest our minds.  Just as our bodies need physical rest, our minds also need rest from all of the thoughts, dreams, pursuits, and busyness that consume them.  In order to illustrate this, we come to a couple of passages that focus on the importance of being still and quieting our minds from relentless pursuits:

Psalm 46:10 (NLT),  “Be still, and know that I am God!

I will be honored by every nation.

I will be honored throughout the world.”

Psalm 46, which inspired Martin Luther’s hymn – A Mighty Fortress – reminds us of the value of fleeing anxiety and fear and resting completely in GOD’s provision and protection.  In addition to the psalmist’s instructions on being still before the LORD, King Solomon (King David’s son in the Old Testament) wrote a book from his own experience of having everything, including knowledge and wisdom, only to find those pursuits pointless.  That’s not to say that wisdom and knowledge shouldn’t be gained in this life, however, if all of our days are spent in relentless pursuit of those things devoid of our pursuit of GOD then they are truly meaningless and drive us to exhaustion.  Listen to Solomon’s advice in Ecclesiastes:

Turn in your Bible to:  Ecclesiastes 1:1-18

Key Point:  “Knowledge and understanding are good, but when they become all-consuming they lead to burnout.”

So, what is a good balance?  How can we pursue keeping our minds at rest?  How can we gain wisdom and still find rest in the LORD?  Here are three things to consider based on our reading of Scripture:

• Be  .

Psalm 46:10 (NLT),  “Be still, and know that I am God!  I will be honored by every nation.  I will be honored throughout the world.”

• Take a  .

Ecclesiastes 1:12-14 (NLT),  ¹² I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem.  ¹³ I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done under heaven.  I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race.  ¹⁴ I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.

Ecclesiastes8:16-17 (NLT),  ¹⁶ In my search for wisdom and in my observation of people’s burdens here on earth, I discovered that there is ceaseless activity, day and night.  ¹⁷ I realized that no one can discover everything God is doing under the sun.  Not even the wisest people discover everything, no matter what they claim.

•  your  .

Ecclesiastes 1:16-18 (NLT),  ¹⁶ I said to myself, “Look, I am wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me.  I have greater wisdom and knowledge than any of them.”  ¹⁷ So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly.  But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind.

¹⁸ The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief.

To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.

Something to take home:

As thinking beings, we can usually trust ourselves and the decisions we make.  What we can logically wrap our minds around brings us a sense of solace and stability.  But what about those things that we cannot wrap our minds around?  What about those things that leave gaps in our comprehension and understanding?  This is where the mind often stalls and spins its wheels in continual searching for answers.  It’s in these moments, where the still small voice of the Father calls us to come to Him in faith and find rest.[2]  It’s in these places that GOD calls us to cast our cares on Him for He cares for us.[3]

Circling back to the words of King Solomon, what is the conclusion of all of this?  He leaves us with one final instruction:

Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NLT),  That’s the whole story.  Here now is my final conclusion:  Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.^[4]

At the end of the day, our pursuits should result in our trust in the LORD.  He is the beginning and the conclusion of everything we seek.  Though He has given us all that we need to know this side of heaven to believe in Him, we trust Him for those things we do not know.  And because of this, like Paul, we can declare with confidence:

1 Corinthians 13:12 (NLT),  Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.  All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

And what is Paul’s conclusion?  It’s this:

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NLT),  Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

[1] Ruth Haley Barton, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, (InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, Illinois; 2010), 70-71.

[2] Matthew 11:28-30.

[3] 1 Peter 5:7.

^[4] Tyndale House Publishers. 2015. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.