Even When You’re Worn Out: Always Enough, Never Too Much

Even When You’re Worn Out

by Jess

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. — Psalm 23:1-3

Shepherds are tough mamma-jammas. There are still shepherds today — did you know that? There aren’t too many in America, but in rural areas across the globe, you can still find one lone guy who literally herds his sheep, moving them around and tending to their needs.

You know what a shepherd has to do to a particularly unruly sheep that won’t go where it’s supposed to? It’s pretty graphic, so hold on to your hat.

He’ll break one of the sheep’s legs.

If that sweet little ball of fluff won’t rest, won’t go the right way, won’t cooperate, the shepherd will take matters into his own hands to make sure the sheep is completely reliant on him as he nurses it back to health after the very wound he himself caused.

If you are worn out, here’s the deal: you’re human.

You live with the effects of a fallen world. You live in a world where people need sleep and rest and restoration. God made your body with the need to shut down for eight-ish hours a night. He made your mind with an intrinsic desire to get quiet and recuperate when things are too hectic or overwhelming. He made your soul desperate to find respite and rejuvenation in Him.

If you’re burned out, worn out, needing rest, and feeling tired, the good news is that you’re human.

The bad news is that if we continually resist His invitation to be human and resist our God-given need of recreation, He has the capacity and the loving inclination to break us a little so we are forced to stick close to Him.

God is beckoning you into a life full of pushing, pulling, and advancing for the sake of His kingdom. But He’s also inviting you into a life full of rest and stillness so you can draw near to Him. What would it look like to rewrite Psalm 23 for yourself, reading “He made me lie down” and remembering that first “He invited me to lie down. He went to quiet waters and so I followed Him”?

What would it look like to finally trash the idea that needing rest automatically equals some kind of deficiency or lack?

This is how He made us. He is not surprised. Rather, He is glorified by our resting and trusting in Him.

Let’s follow our Shepherd to the water and the quiet spaces. And let’s kick the Enemy in the teeth when he tells us we’re not enough because we’re worn out!

Excerpted with permission from Always Enough, Never Too Much by Jess Connolly and Hayley Morgan, copyright Jessica Ashleigh Connolly and Hayley E. Morgan.

* * *

Your Turn

When you hear the whisper in your ear, “You’re not enough”, maybe it’s time to ask the question “Am I vulnerable to that message because I’m tired?” Jesus never condemns. He convicts, but never condemns. When we’re tired, let’s submit to His shepherding and get some rest! Come share your thoughts on our humanity and need to rest and trust in Him with us on our blog. We want to hear from you! ~ Devotionals Daily