By Dr. John E. Morgan

Pastor–Collinsville Baptist Church

I was struggling a bit.  Maybe you have been there.

There had been lots of stress.  Maybe you have been there.  Busy at work.  Busy at home.  Worries for family.  Worries for church.

It has been a time that we never quite seem to put anything behind us.  Take care of a glitch.  Get up the next day.  And it is there again.  It is very tiring.  Maybe you have been there, too.

I say that reluctantly.  Once I began a sermon this way:  “I am tired.”  I thought it would be a great way to connect with the congregation.  They would see that I was tired, just like them.  And would listen to what I had to say.

Oops.  It didn’t work out that way.  When the sermon was over I had five or six people come up to me and say something along the lines of, “You think you’re tired.  That’s ridiculous.  Let me tell you how tired I am.”  I came to realize they didn’t need me to say I was tired.  They needed someone to know that they were really tired.  And I must admit that they had more reason than me to be tired.

Maybe we can just agree that a lot of people are tired.  At work, home, school.  And sometimes even preachers are.  Gloria and I catch each other heaving sighs a lot.  We know it is all okay.  We know to trust God.  We are just are a bit overwhelmed.

That was my mind set when I picked up my Bible Monday to do my daily reading.  I opened it to read because I was supposed to read.  Another daily task.  Heave a sigh and read.  Monday I was up to Proverbs 30.  Words from someone named Agur.  I have read them many, many times.  But this time was different.

I leaned forward in the chair in my office.  The words from verse 1:  “I am weary, God, but I can prevail.”  Tears came to my eyes.  These words came to me Monday as a promise from God.  I am weary, but I will prevail.  The passage goes on to say that Agur will prevail because he trusts a God who is greater than all Agur faces.

I am weary.  I will prevail because I trust God. “Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son?  Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” Verses 4-5.

I am weary. Several years back I ran in a half marathon in Atlanta on Thanksgiving morning.  The course up and down the hills of Peachtree is difficult.  Very tiring.  At about the ten mile mark, I was running past a church building.  On the door it said, “Come to me you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”  I laughed.  Several hundred people ran by the church that day who were really weary.  None of them found rest at the church.  Three more miles to go.  Can’t stop now.  Keep running.

As I ran, I thought about it.  And realized that every day thousands of drivers go past that church who are weary.  Maybe they even see the words of Jesus.  Come to me…I will give you rest.  But they keep going. Too busy to find rest.

When we truly trust Jesus, we find rest.  We feel our burdens lifted.  Monday I needed reminding of that.  So He told me.  “I am weary God, but I can prevail.”  Slapped me right in the face with those words.  Trust Him.  Prevail.

Maybe you’ve been there.  Maybe it’s time for you to quit running.  And trust.