Strength for the Journey
Since my husband and I are both teachers, we take advantage of our summer vacation and spend a few weeks on the road visiting family in other states. Our older kids are used to these trips and travel quite well, but this year was different because it would be the first time we took this trip with a baby in tow. Three weeks on the road with a nine month old baby; what could possibly go wrong? Truth be told, the baby did quite well, and it was this mama who felt the struggle:
Hours in the car at a time with a baby who has found her voice that replicates a pterodactyl call left my ears ringing and my mental capacity dwindling.
Multiple nights of a minimum of three feedings to help the baby drift back to sleep only to then stare at the wall unable to return to my slumber turned me into a mom-bie constantly looking for my next caffeine fix.
Sight-seeing with a rather dense baby strapped to my body that would cause me to wake the next day with soreness that felt like I had been struck by a Mac truck.
I now understand too fully the concept of a “weary traveler”. Oxford Languages defines weary as “Feeling or showing tiredness, especially as a result of [a] lack of sleep.” They might as well have had my picture next to that definition! In addition to the physical problems associated with feeling weary, the mental fatigue of it all can wear us down equally. It can be in these moments of weariness when Satan seems stronger than ever as he goes to work on us. When we are lacking in our basic needs for life, Satan is there to attack our character and steal the Spirit and joy living inside of us. There was more than one occasion that I can recall from the trip where the fruit of the spirit was not so evident in my words and actions.
So, what do we do when we are weary from the throes of life and find our spirit being attacked?
In Psalm 119, the Psalmist in verse 19 cries out about how he is a sojourner on the earth (boy, do I know the feeling!), how people heave insults on him (22), and how rulers plot against him (23). The Psalmist knew all too well about feeling completely worn out to the point of sorrow in his soul. But he also knew where to turn to renew his spirit. Continuing in Psalm 119:28, he states, “I am weary from grief; strengthen me through your word.” All throughout this Psalm we find a longing in the writer and a yearning for God’s word. He didn’t just seek to read it, but to fully understand it, meditate on it, and live it out in his life because as he states in verse 50, “this is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.” The Psalmist seemed to be unfazed by his afflictions in life as long as he focused on and delighted in the word of the Lord. His mind was so focused on the word of the Lord that he was sustained through the Word, and there was no chance for Satan to attack him in his weariness.
We see this same devotion to God’s Word in the New Testament account of Jesus being tempted in the desert by Satan. In Luke 4:1, we find Jesus being led by the Spirit into the wilderness. In verse 2 it tells us that Jesus had been in the desert for forty days without food. If there is ever a time in Scripture where someone is physically weary and depleted, this is it. And in his physical fatigue, Jesus battles Satan as Satan attempts to break Him spiritually as well. Jesus’ response each time begins with “It is written” as he quotes Scripture to quell Satan’s endeavors to steal the Spirit that was sustaining Jesus through His weary journey in the desert. Jesus knew that the long-term answer to his depleted state was not physical nourishment, glory, and wealth on this Earth, or even the ability to call upon angelic armies to revive Him, but rather the enduring hope found in the Word of God. We too can turn to Scripture when we are dealing with difficult and demanding situations. When we feel weak and worn out or bogged down in the burdens of life we can replenish our Spirit and find life-giving hope by storing up God’s word in our heart and using that to strengthen us through life’s journey.
