Back in 2005,
I went on a six day hike down into the Grand Canyon
with five other guys.
And I almost didn't make it past day one.
Now, it's true that I was a young man back then,
25 years old, and
I was in reasonably good shape but I did not
practice at all for that hike and I didn't train at all for it.
And the first day of the hike was by far the worst.
That was the day that we traveled all the way from
the top rim on the northern rim of the Grand Canyon
all the way to the bottom.
And it was grueling.
We started in the morning
and by evening we were almost at our camp.
But I couldn't make it.
We were about 100 yards from the camp
when my legs just gave out on me.
I stumbled to the ground.
I physically could not get up.
I just had to lay there for an hour.
Now all day I had been doing most of the right things.
I was staying well hydrated.
We stopped for lunch.
But the thing that I forgot to do
was, towards the end of the trip,
I forgot to continue eating.
My body was completely out of energy
and I was just exhausted.
I think, emotionally and mentally speaking,
that's how a lot of us are feeling right now.
In this season of wandering
where we don't know what's going on,
a lot of us just feel tired.
A lot of us just feel exhausted.
Like, we're not sure how much farther we have to go and,
we're just losing energy to continue this wandering.
And so as we continue this talk this week,
I wanted to pause and let you know
that there's a good place that you and I can stop to find rest.
But before we get there,
I want to have you think about
how it is that you're exhausted
and maybe how it is that you're frustrated.
As we're about to look at the Israelite people
and what Moses had to go through,
they were exhausted, they were frustrated.
The people had been traveling for a while,
they were hungry.
They didn't know where their food was going to come from,
they were thirsty, they were complaining.
And I'll tell you what.
Moses was just exhausted.
No matter how many times God showed up
to miraculously save the people,
the people just didn't trust God like they should have.
And no matter how many times Moses was a good leader
to show them what to do,
the people just didn't trust Moses either.
And Moses was getting tired of it.
He was getting exhausted.
And I picked a section to read today
from their wandering that shows what Moses did
when he was so, so exhausted and so frustrated.
This reading comes from Numbers, chapter 20. It says:
And just to take a quick break there,
God had told Moses that
in order to give water to the people,
he was supposed to speak to it.
And I don't know how this was going to work but
by speaking to the rock,
water would come out of it.
So Moses, completely exhausted and
frustrated with what the people were doing,
he did this.
He gathered them all together and then verse 11:
Still a miracle
but yet it was a reminder that Moses was exhausted
and Moses was frustrated.
You can see what he did when he was exhausted and frustrated.
He who called the people rebels
was actually rebelling against God himself.
And there were going to be consequences of that
as you read on through the account.
But you can just see here
what Moses did when he was so exhausted,
when he was so frustrated.
And maybe this is a good time for you just to pause and think.
What do you do when you're exhausted
and when you're frustrated?
Maybe this past week you've been acting
like you've got no energy.
And because of it,
you were acting out in anger.
You were acting out in impatience.
You were saying things that you immediately regretted.
And maybe right now there's some shame and
some guilt that you're trying to deal with.
When you're exhausted,
when you're frustrated, what does that look like?
Well, as we navigate through wandering,
I wish I could tell you that the end is in sight.
But no one knows when that's coming.
And we don't know when a new normal will get here.
So for the time being,
we can't just stop.
But we can pause to rest.
And God is the one
who can give you the energy you need in this moment
to navigate what's coming up.
In those moments where you feel like
your energy is dropping
and you're just getting sick and tired of everything around you,
there's something you need to do,
something that Moses should have done.
Something we see Jesus model.
But what we should do when we're tired and exhausted
is simply to pause and rest.
Pause
and think about what
is really going on around you.
As you pause and reflect on what's going on,
it's a good opportunity
to ask God to give you perspective
to know that the value of your life
is not doing what you want to do,
that's where we get into trouble.
But the value of your life
is in who God wants you to be.
Sometimes we get frustrated,
we get exhausted and we just get angry.
But with God,
when you rest in his presence,
there is a moment to reflect on who you are,
a child of God.
He has forgiven you.
He gives you strength.
He, alone, can give you the energy you need
and with his forgiveness there is hope.
Hope for you and also hope to restore those relationships around you.
Well, no matter what, there will be days and times
when you find yourself being exhausted,
maybe even frustrated.
What do you do in those moments
to rest and relax and recharge?
We'd love to hear your comments
so that we, as a community, can share ideas
and learn how to recharge and relax together.
Thanks so much for being here with today's video.
Can't wait to see you again tomorrow
for the next part of our series that goes through wandering.