Have you been feeling tired? Rundown? Discouraged? Rejected? Or maybe you want to just throw in the towel? I think we all find ourselves there sometimes. When I meet rejection, which in a writer’s world, it’s fairly often, I feel this deep urge to quit. I want to hole up and tell myself what I do really doesn’t matter. When I meet failure in motherhood, which, too, is often, I do the same. The little voice within my head says, “You’re the worst. You’ll never be enough. You don’t deserve them.”
Now, before anyone goes commenting below that none of that is true. I know. However, for anyone who may be relating, let me tell you what it is: All of that is a lie straight from the pit of hell. And the most important thing that we can do, as believers, when we feel this way, is to continue walking the path of obedience that God has called us to.
When I think about this, I’m reminded of when Jesus called the first few disciples to follow Him in Luke, chapter 5. In this chapter, Jesus is preaching to the crowds. He sees two boats, and their fishermen washing out their empty nets. They had been out all night and had not caught a thing. They had to be feeling exhausted, discouraged, and defeated. However, Jesus asks if he can get on their boat and begins preaching from the boat to put some space between Him and the crowd. After He finished, He told the fishermen, “...Now, go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish” (Luke 5:5). Feeling the exhaustion and knowing there was nothing left to catch, Simon, one of the fishermen, responded, “...we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.’ And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear. A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking” (Luke 5:5-7).
Though they were tired, they obeyed. Though they felt the pressing failure of a long night awake and no fish, they obeyed. Though they didn’t want to do it, they obeyed. And because of their obedience, their boats were heaping with fish. What a reward!
I think so many of us can relate to this. We’re tired, rundown, exhausted, feeling defeated in the face of failure, yet our response to the mission and purpose we were called to needs to be obedience. We need to get back up, regardless of how exhausted and defeated we’re feeling, shake the failure and rejection off, and move forward with obedience. It is there we will reap a harvest from our labor.
One of my favorite authors, Cleere Reaves, in her Devotional Guide Refreshed said, “...opposition doesn’t mean we are doing something wrong or going the wrong way; oftentimes, opposition solidifies that we are right in the middle of God’s will.” That speaks so heavily to my heart on this December morning.
My friends, as we head into the weekend, don’t let opposition keep you down. Rather walk boldly in obedience to the calling that God has placed on YOUR life. Praying for that in the mighty name of Jesus! Have a great weekend!
“I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (Philippians 3:14).
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