I knew my own bit of longing for the wild places. I am a man not given to cities, nor the crowded walks of men. I like the long winds upon my face, the stirring of miles of grass bending before the wind, the clouds shadows upon the plain, the lure and lift of far hills.”
–Louis L’Amour (Mojave Crossing)
“For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills.”
–Deuteronomy 8:7 (NLT)
————————
First thing to let you know is that for the next month the Echos From the Campfire might be a bit sporadic as I’m going to be on and off the road a while. We’re going to be taking advantage of this thing called retirement and go visiting and traveling around. I’ll do my best to give you a few thoughts to ponder.
————————
There’s an old song that carries the jist with it, “and all I’ve got is a wearied mind.” I’ve been in that place many a time. I’ve been weary of body, and I’ve been weary of mind. I remember when I was to take my “master’s comps” that I would wake up throughout the night before the test going through ideas, facts, people, events, etc. I chose four areas for my test and would receive four questions upon which to write: Civil War, Current Thoughts in American History, World War II, and United States 1900-1940.
My mind wouldn’t rest as I went over everything I could think of in those areas.
Events, circumstances, financial issues, politics, sickness, and a host of other things can give us a wearied mind. The question is then: how do we receive rest from the weariness of the mind? In the case of my comp test it was when the test was over. I knew I did well, so I didn’t worry about the results, but other things may continue with us and it is hard to lay them down.
When the body is weary we go to sleep. Ahh, sweet respose from a hard day’s work. The weariness of the body is cured by slumber. However, the mind is different. When the mind is weary, sleep does it little good. George Matheson says that, “The weariness of the mind needs an opposite cure from the weariness of the body…the weariness of the mind can be cured only by stimulus.”
Jesus, “prescribes not a sedative, but an irritant; not more sleep, but more waking. To the man of the weary hand He says, ‘Cast your cares upon Me;’ but to the man of the weary heart He cries, ‘Take My yoke upon you,'”. (Matheson) The hidden key is found in Hebrews 12:3,
“Consider Him…lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”
The New King James puts it this way, “For consider Him…lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” Ponder the last phrase of the Amplified, “so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds.”
Let me finish this morning with the words from George Matheson. “I want a new interest to heal my heart’s weariness–some one to live for, some one to work for, some one to wait for, some one to long for. It is my want of longing that makes my want of strength; it is my listlessness that brings me languidness. Create a new heart within me–an eager, beating, bounding heart, a heart vibrating in response to Thy love! Let me feel the passion and the pathos of life, of Thy life! Let me be taken captive by Thy beauty! Let me catch the spell of Thy loveliness! Let me be thrilled at the sound of Thy footsteps! Let me learn the rapture of hearing Thy name! Let me experience the glow of excitement when the murmur runs round, ‘Jesus of Nazareth passeth by!’ Then shall the weariness of the heart vanish, then shall the languor of the spirit cease; for the liberty of flight is the Sabbath of the soul. Then we shall mount up with wings as eagles; we shall not faint nor be weary.”