[AI translation] There are two words in this Word that make the message of the Word especially relevant for us today: weariness and strength. It begins, "The young shall faint, and be weary, and the very young shall stumble, and the very old shall be weary" (Is 40:30). Doctors, psychiatrists and pastoral care workers hear almost nothing so often as this from patients who come to them with complaints: I'm tired! I once got a phone call. A tired, old voice answered and said, "Please, a physically and mentally tired man would like to speak to the Reverend!" We agreed on a time for him to come to see me. I waited at the appointed hour. I prepared myself to receive an old man. There was a knock on the door and a robust man of about 36 entered. He was a physically and mentally tired man. The type of modern man - an almost ubiquitous phenomenon. I was talking to someone yesterday. There was nothing wrong with him. He smiled, talked about his plans, was nice as always. The next day, I was shocked to hear that just a few hours after meeting him yesterday, he had suddenly taken ill, and by the time the doctor came out, he could only pronounce him dead. What happened to her? His heart had given out. He couldn't take it anymore. He was working himself to death, his relatives said. Perhaps you didn't know he was tired to death.But it's not just the work, it's life itself that wears you out. Maybe it's the disappointment he's been through, maybe it's expecting too much from life and not getting it - you wear out slowly, like the movement of a clock, and eventually you run out. I'll never forget, my father told me when I was a child, that when his grandmother was dying in bed in her old age, her strength failing, her relatives would surround her and console her in the usual way: eat a little, it will give her strength, she'll get better. The old woman refused the kindness: Let me die, I'm tired! I remember as a child wondering about this saying, I could not understand how someone could be so tired that they wanted to die.
Since then I have encountered this phenomenon several times and now I know that it is possible! It is possible to get tired. To simply get tired of life, because life itself is not only a great gift and a great task, but also often a burden. For even the Apostle Paul felt this way when, on the eve of a really busy and tiring life, he wrote to the church at Philippi: "I desire to "depart and be with Christ, for that is much better" - although he adds, "But to remain in this body is more necessary for your sake." (Phil 1:23-24) Yes, it is the honest life that wearies, not just sin. It is the constant struggle against sin, against the many pulls and tears, against the temptations within us and around us. One thinks that one has finally got rid of some old sin, that it will not bother one any more, and suddenly the defeated sin rears its head again, haunts one with new power, and the fighter is tired of the struggle. Yes: one can get tired of the fight of faith. And perhaps that is the most dangerous fatigue of all: fatigue in faith.
This is what once happened to one of the most extraordinary warriors of faith, the prophet Elijah, the fearless 'man of God'. He became so caught up in the seemingly futile struggle, the fight for the Lord's cause, that he lost the will to live. He lay down under a tree and in prayer "begged that he might die, saying, 'Enough! Now, O Lord, take away my soul" (1 Kings 19:5): I can't take it any longer! Deliver me, Lord, from further service! I have had enough! Oh, but it is a common and frequent phenomenon, as the Scripture says: "The young are weary, and the young are weary, and the very young are faint, and the very young are fainting. Yea, even the young, even the very young, even the very old! Even those who are no longer young, and not even the very young! How weary and weary they are!
Well, that's why we need strength so much, to replenish the vital energy used up, to keep on replenishing it with new and new strength. Because life itself requires a lot of strength. Even the Christian life, the life of Christ! That requires superhuman strength. The main question of life is not what burdens one has to carry, what tasks one has to solve - because there are always burdens, there will always be tasks - but the question of the strength that is needed. If there is strength, then the problem of the burden and the task is already solved. If there is strength: there is life - and if there is no strength: there is no life. In the course of everyday life, we have to develop many different kinds of strength, and to do this, we must always replenish life with new strength. That is why it is such a great promise that God says in our Word, "He gives strength to the weary, and increases the strength of the faint. The young shall faint, and be weary, and the strong shall be weary; but they that trust in the Lord shall renew their strength, and shall take wing like the vultures of the flock, and shall run, and not be faint; they shall walk, and not be weary.
In order to understand what this power is, let us first consider that there are many powers at work in our lives. First of all, physical strength, physical power. The body is also a kind of structure, like a boiler, which produces heat, and through the heat, certain physical energy. Fuel is food, drink and rest. Anyone who does hard physical or mental work, anyone who lives a working life at all, must eat more and regenerate regularly through rest, otherwise the boiler will consume itself. It is a great thing and a great responsibility to know how to use physical strength, and most modern people, when they overwork themselves, do not even think that they are committing slow suicide. And murder is a terrible sin even if it is committed on oneself out of bona fide over-zealousness. I am often reminded of Jesus' saying, "The spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak." (Mt 26,41) Any action that increases the body's lack of strength is a sinful abuse of the physical energy God has given us, of life. Do not expect from God bodily strengthening from one who wastes this energy himself. To the weary man who is a robber of his own bodily strength, the promise is not, "He giveth strength to the weary, and increaseth the strength of the faint." Nor is it said, 'Their strength shall be renewed'. Physical strength is, by nature, a dwindling resource - take care of it! Nurture it, help it, protect it, you are responsible for it to the One who gave it to you! We have to reckon with that too! It is also a talent!
But it is not only physical strength that works in us, but also spiritual strength. Man is so special that he is not only nourished by food and drink, but also by spiritual influences. What a power an idea is, for example! We only know this when someone lacks it, when he has no enthusiasm for anything, an empty soul, no ideals. I have known a widowed woman who, in her struggle with so many problems, was animated by the knowledge that she had to bring up her half-orphaned children! The sense of parental duty towards her children became such a factor in her life that it helped her to endure deprivation, the many tempting sufferings and torments of physical and spiritual abandonment. People who have been prisoners of war say that anyone who had the hope that the hour of liberation would one day strike died out: he did not even survive the captivity. While the other lived through it! So there may be such spiritual forces at work in man, an idea, a thought, a desire, a hope, with the help of which man is capable of many things. He can endure, wait, fight, bear burdens, resist temptation - live! To stay alive...
Then there are the forces of the devil in man's life. We are surrounded by more of these forces than we think or realize. Let me mention just a few: the love of money, for example. What a driving force this is has been seen in its truly uncanny reality by anyone who has read one of those true crime novels. Or, for example, the terrible power of the demon of drunkenness - a drunkard will go to any lengths, he can lie, he can steal, he can exert terrible mental strength to satisfy his passion. How all this then backfires - in the form of total mental and physical exhaustion - is another matter. This is precisely the devilish nature of power. Or, for example, a deadly hatred, a desire for revenge! He will not rest until he has repaired the injury done to his family or to himself, and is therefore driven, impelled, inspired by a thought. But this thought is not pure, it is devilish, hellish, demonic! It can give man a terrible power, but in this power the power of hell is manifested. It is also power, but it is corrupting, destructive, evil, devilish power! In the recent historical past this power has led to the extermination of nearly ten million innocent people! God save you and the world from it!
But in addition to the physical, spiritual, evil power, there is another kind of power that can be at work in a person's life. And this is the power of heaven. I could say it is spiritual power, but in the sense that it is power from the Spirit of God. That is what the Word that we read speaks of. But not only in the Word that is read. God often speaks in the Bible about how He wants to communicate the power of His Spirit to man. It is worth quoting some of God's promises here for a moment. One psalmist prays to God, "My refuge, my fortress, my God, in him will I trust" (Ps 91:2)."(Psa 84:6) Then a man in trouble prays: 'When I cried out, you heard me, you encouraged me, strength came into my soul' (Psa 138:3) - Did you hear? My soul has been strengthened! To the cry. If there is strength in my soul, there is nothing wrong! Even if I am up to my neck in trouble.
So the believer can count on a superhuman strength, a strength that God gives. Heavenly strength! The power of the Spirit of God. God has given His power most powerfully, you know, in Jesus Christ. I've said it many times, but let me say it again: Jesus is the earthly centre of God's heavenly energy! It is recorded of Him, among other things: 'And all the multitudes sought to touch Him, for power came from Him, and He healed them all' (Lk 6,19). He felt some mysterious power flowing out of him. Heavenly power. This is what the Apostle Paul says when he says: "I have power for all things in Christ who strengthens me" (Phil 4,13): I know that the wisdom of God in me will solve all problems. The power of God in me is greater than all difficulties. God's love around me is greater than all human evil. I am strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Well, then, if we want to live a truly humane life, if we want to live a truly Christian life, that is, a Christlike life, we need this strength! No matter how much you have holidayed on Lake Balaton, or how much you have cruised the Mediterranean or the mountains of Switzerland, without this strength you are still a "weary" and "burdened" person!
So how can we benefit from it? The Word says: "He gives strength to the weary." So God gives. I do not produce it myself by some spiritual exercise. God is the source of this power, and He communicates it to those who have a personal relationship with Him. So let me say: he who is in right relationship with Him is in right relationship. So he who is constantly near God, who is in communion with Him, who does not hide his misery from God. For example, that he is weary in body or in spirit or in faith. He tells Him honestly, "Lord, I am tired! So he confesses honestly and frankly: Lord, I have fallen again, I am empty, you see! I'm exhausted spiritually and physically - that gives me strength!
And the other promise is: "Those who trust in the Lord, their strength will be renewed". So it is not enough to believe that God is able to give strength, but also to trust that He will give strength now and to me. For He is always pleased to give strength to those who ask Him for it with confidence. Take God at His word, and His promise becomes true and alive: you shall have it! It may be through a Word that is addressed to you, it may be in prayer, which means that you have touched Jesus in your spirit and power comes from Him, in you! For He is that power!
Truly, brothers and sisters, if we want to live humanly, if we want to live: we need this superhuman strength. Draw near to the Lord in the humility of one who is weary, and you will experience the truth of our fundamental doctrine: "He gives strength to the weary, and increases the strength of the weak." And that "they that trust in the Lord shall renew their strength."
Amen
Date: 11 September 1966.
Lesson
Mk 5,24-34