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(Matthew 11:28-30)

Yearly Theme:  “Goodness is… Glorious”

Series Title:  “Beyond the Noise”

September 22^nd, 2024

Something to think about:

In her book, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, Ruth Haley Barton explains the difference between what she calls “good tired” and “dangerously tired.”  She writes:

“[Good tired] is the kind of tiredness we experience after a job well done, a task accomplished out of the best of who we are.  If we are living in healthy rhythms of work and rest, this tiredness is a temporary condition, and when it comes, we know that after we take appropriate time for rest and recuperation, we will soon be back in the swing of things. …

“Another kind of tiredness is more ominous, and this is what I call ‘dangerous tired.’  It is deeper and more serious than the temporary exhaustion that follows periods of intensity of schedule and workload.  The difference between ‘good tired and ‘dangerous tired’ is like the difference between the atmospheric conditions that produce harmless spring rain clouds and those that bring an eerie green-tinted sky and the possibility of a tornado.  When the sky is green like that, you’re not quite sure what’s going on, but something doesn’t feel right, and you know that you had better pay attention.  One atmospheric condition is normal and predictable; the other is risky and volatile.”[1]

Overcoming either being tired or dangerously tired is tied directly to our willingness to find rest in GOD.  Spending time alone with Him in solitude and silence is the best and most important way to recalibrate our body, mind, and soul.  Jesus said it this way in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament:

Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT), 

²⁸ Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Key Point:  “Our exhaustion is often tied to our unwillingness to rest in the LORD.”

Being dangerously tired ultimately leads to burnout and breakdown.  To constantly have our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies busy with activity is to contradict the purpose we were made for.  We were made to work, yes, but also to rest.  We may convince ourselves that constant activity means success, but it’s really just our pride and egos that demand activity because of our insecurities.  Jesus knew that we were created to work and rest and He modeled this to His disciples in all the times He got away to be alone with the Father, and in all the times He spent with them away from the crowds.  Thus, Jesus issues this call for us to come to Him and rest.  Let’s look at each of the elements in Jesus’ words in this passage, and come to a clearer understanding of the importance of spending time alone in silence and solitude with Him.

•  to  .

• I will  you  .

• Take my  upon  .

Something to take home:

I want to close with a rather lengthy quote from Ruth Haley Barton in her book, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, with regard to being “dangerously tired.”  She writes:

“When we are dangerously tired, we may be numb to the full range of human emotion.  While it may seem like a relief to be unhampered by the negative emotions that bog other people down, in this condition the positive emotions become elusive as well.  When we are dangerously tired we don’t feel much of anything, good or bad.  On some level we suspect that if we did stop long enough to experience our emotions, we might be overcome by feelings we’d rather not feel – sadness over past or present losses, desperation regarding aspects of our life or character that seem unfixable, powerlessness to choose the kind of life we know we’re meant to live, unfulfilled desires and longings.  We may be afraid that if we entered these unlit places in our souls, we might never come out.

“One of the most sobering things I learned as I listened to my exhaustion and allowed God to minister to me,” Barton writes, “is that when I am dangerously tired I can be very, very busy and look very, very important but be unable to hear the quiet, sure voice of the One who calls me the beloved.  When that happens I am at the mercy of all manner of external forces, tossed and turned by others’ expectations and my own compulsions.  These inner lacks then become the source of my frenetic activity, keeping me forever spiraling into deeper levels of exhaustion.”[2]

So, today, are you “good tired” or “dangerously tired”?  Are you worried about keeping up your image of staying so busy and looking so important that you are neglecting the most important part of being human:  Finding rest in being alone with GOD?  There is a voice that calls out to you if you’re willing to listen and heed it, and He is saying,

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

What are you waiting for?  Why don’t you come?

[1] Ruth Haley Barton, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, (InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, Illinois; 2010), 58.

[2] Invitation to Solitude and Silence, 59-60.