I was exhausted yesterday. Actually that’s probably an understatement. I felt a little zombie-like; but with less brains and more drool.
For me it’s been one of “those” weeks. You know, the kind where it seems everything is a battle. I’ve been working on a major project and yesterday marked the last day. It’s a project that takes months of planning and preparation. Two days prior to the event it requires dozens of hours of work just to get things set. And it never seems to run smoothly. No matter what is done in the preparation something new happens that catches everyone off guard. It’s just the nature of the job.
Every time this project comes up I dread it. It’s unpredictable, high profile, and very complicated. It tires me out just thinking about it! But in a strange way it’s been one of the greatest experiences of my life because now that it’s over I can see God fulfilling the promises he makes in Isaiah 40.
At more than one point this week I thought I had reached my breaking point. I would turn to God and say,”that’s it! I can’t do this anymore! I’ve reached my limits!” It wasn’t an empty threat. I really thought I couldn’t do it anymore. I had no idea how I was going to accomplish the tasks before me. But somehow I always found a way to take one more step forward. No matter how far I dug down, I still could go a little further.
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the wary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40: 28-31)
I lived that out yesterday. I was stumbling and falling. Heck I was probably laying on the ground with a bunch of footprints on the back of my shirt! But God gave me the strength I needed to go on. At the moment I was most tired, at the time when I thought there was no way to prevent disaster, that’s exactly the moment I found I had the most strength to carry on.
So often I look for proof that God exists. I want something tangible - I want a miracle. And so often when God acts I ignore it or chalk it up to “coincidence.” Well this is something tangible, this is something miraculous.
People sometimes ask Christians “how is your faith so strong?” or “how can you believe in God when so much evil happens?” To me those questions are answered (in part) by events like this. Jesus was constantly pointing out that he was performing the very miracles people said they needed to see in order to believe. But many of those people never admitted to themselves what they really saw.
So the next time I’m feeling exhausted I can point back to this project and say, “I know God will help me today, because he helped me back then.” I don’t need to ask for more “proof” because I’ve already seen it. Now I can just ask for help, and know it’s coming.
