BUOY e18 | Have You Been Spiritually Exhausted? (what caused mine)

Welcome to Buoy, a Life in Deeper Water podcast. Episode 18.  Have You Been Spiritually Exhausted? – what caused mine.

(click here to listen)

Hello human.

What does Winnie the Pooh have to do with our pursuit of God’s nature?

Here’s what.

From

~ (Eeyore), A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

“How did you fall in, Eeyore?” asked Rabbit, as he dried him with Piglet’s handkerchief.

“I didn’t,” said Eeyore.

“But how–”

“I was BOUNCED,” said Eeyore.

“Oo,” said Roo excitedly, “did somebody push you?”

“Somebody BOUNCED me. I was just thinking by the side of the river–thinking, if any of you know what that means–when I received a loud BOUNCE.”

“Oh, Eeyore!” said everybody.

“Are you sure you didn’t slip?” asked Rabbit wisely.

“Of course I slipped. If you’re standing on the slippery bank of a river, and somebody BOUNCES you loudly from behind, you slip. What did you think I did?”

I remember so clearly the image of Eeyore floating down the river, spinning in an eddy, circling, and circling…fully embracing what had just happened to him. Poor Eeyore. What a lovable, depressed donkey, with a stuffed heart and a friend named Pooh. A donkey who just says it like it is.

According to Eeyore if you are on slippery ground, of course you will slip when BOUNCED. If life bounces you hard, and all you were doing is thinking… well, in you go. And by thinking, to say all you were doing is staying in your lane, your space, and as Eeyore might imagine ‘a dreary little piece of the forest, not conducive to BOUNCING.’

That thinking—if any of you know what that means—that thinking in one slippery place will land you in the river.

Maybe, if we linger on slippery ground, close to the edge of our stuff, we can expect to be BOUNCED. Eeyore is not a Biblical donkey but he is such a gentle, accepting victim of consequence. Thank you for Eeyore, Mr. Milne.

What Happens When A Christ Follower is Bounced?

So what happens when my feet slip, what will BOUNCE me as a Christ follower?

Asaph confesses to the Lord in Psalm 73,

1 Surely God is good to Israel,

    to those who are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;

    I had nearly lost my foothold.

“Slipped” here means “poured out” and if we take cues from our personal slipping experiences, it is a moment of being off-balance, with the sensation of falling, but not quite. Not actually going down, but almost.

Unless you are on the edge of slippery ground, and easily BOUNCED.

We can be BOUNCED by anything. Working too much, sleeping too little, time given to activities with no enduring value. And the flip side:  Working too little, sleeping too much, tracking only the spiritual activities with enduring value. Anything large (an addiction), or small (any distraction).

And a response like Eeyore’s that says, “Of course” gives you a free pass. “Of course I will slip, if I am BOUNCED”, with no accountability as to where you choose to stand…

Before you know it, life’s TIGGER comes along and BOUNCES you, again. Life will BOUNCE us all over the forest. And then we end up in the river with an enchanting view of the sky but victim to the current. Arm up, go this way, other arm up, go that way. Spinning in an eddy. Like Eeyore.

Landing in an Eddy of Spiritual Exhaustion

How about getting BOUNCED by being exhausted? Recently I landed in an eddy of spiritual exhaustion. At first I didn’t know what it was. All I could think about was letting the current win. Being lulled into staying in one place. A mindset that was mesmerized by the sky above me, with no forward direction.

Doesn’t floating in the river, with the current feel nice? I don’t want to float forever but isn’t it kind of pleasant and harmless? Especially as Eeyore preferred, “floating in circles.”

How do I turn toward God when I feel spiritually exhausted from my pursuit of spiritual growth?

Isn’t that counterintuitive?  How do we manage growing our spiritual character?

First, Salvation (He saves us, and finds us, and knocks on our door)

We accept him as our Savior.

And so the relationship begins. We have a lot to learn about the God who created us in His image. There are plenty of articles about spiritual exhaustion, and Biblical references to being weary, tired, heavy-laden. But leaning on God, finding a place of rest, being still and knowing he is God, isn’t what I was feeling. And meditating, taking a vacation, changing up a daily routine aren’t quite the solutions I was looking for, though helpful in other scenarios.

It was more like spiritual exhaustion from a spiritual deficiency. To keep this simple I am referring to sustaining a balance of how we seek God—know God, love God, serve Him and ultimately praise him. I can account for five spiritual actions in my journey:

1. Pray to him.
2. Learn about him. In the 1140 pages of His Word. Whew.
3. Ask for the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
4. Praise and worship him.
5. Fellowship with him through his church.

Slippery ground, for me, is when these are out of balance. My spiritual exhaustion comes when I lose a solid stance. Maybe too much of number 2 and not enough of the others. Or too much 2 and 5 or too much of all of it, or not enough of any of it. Each element nourishes us and brings us closer to him in different ways but how they spiritually strengthen our spiritual nature together is what stirs the soul. Like how nutritious foods meet different physical needs by working in sync to create a healthy body.

A Balance Buoy – 5 Scriptures to Guide Us

I want to share five scriptures as a buoy to how we balance our spiritual journey. I call it a “balance buoy” because it motivates me to seek God’s nature through his power, not mine. His balance through my actions.

For Prayer: 

1 John 5:14

14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

 

For Reading His Word:

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow, as it judges the thoughts and purposes of the heart.

For Deep Conviction from the Holy Spirit:

1 Thessalonians 1:5

5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.

They are all divinely important, but this one gets me. The people God has put in my life who are spiritual leaders, mentors and friends are those who live a convicted life. By this I mean people who are constantly seeking and sharing knowledge, wisdom they have received, things they are changing, developing in their lives through conviction from the Holy Spirit. People who live with transparency about who they are and who the God is that they love and serve. I know God better through them. And I am loved.

For Praise and Worship:

Psalms 63:3-4

3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.

4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

For Fellowship:

Hebrews 10:24

24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,

That we fellowship with our brothers and sisters to love and support them, with a great big open door for all who seek God and people who will love them unconditionally.

Slipping into Spiritual Exhaustion

When I am spiritually exhausted one of these five elements is out of sync. And I am standing on slippery ground. Because these things come together to give us wisdom and revelation. And it is the balance of how they come together that makes us whole.

We might argue that you can never pray to much. We are told to pray without ceasing. But knowing him better is important to how we pray. Reading His Word is critical. And all praise and no conviction may not be the most fertile spiritual ground for growing. Too much fellowship might be taking away from one-on-time and begin to settle into resentment—that you do not have enough solo time with your Savior. When we say “Yes” to fellowship and service commitments it should be by God’s hand in our lives.

A lot of ways to slip. To feel like you are slipping.

Asking God for Balance in Our Pursuit of His Nature

But God protects us.

2 Samuel 22:37, the New Living Translation says it like this:

You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping.

We need to ask God for balance in our pursuit of his nature. How our calendars fill up, what “tracks” in our lives, who we serve, how we feel, fellowship, pray, study his word, what we think, it all falls short when we do it on our own. All the ways we respond to our Savior, all the ways we give ourselves back to God depend upon His nature. His fullness. His divine balance.

It is about how God “curates” his fullness in each of us. I will definitely return to this thought, but for now it is to think about how we are not all going to be the same in heaven, he is shaping us for our eternal life.

The fullness of God takes us beyond the spiritual actions we commit to for spiritual growth.

God made us complex. I am seeking his fullness, and with my latest BOUNCE into spiritual exhaustion, I have gained this assurance:  how important it is to ask God for balance in my pursuit of his nature. We need prayer, His Word, the conviction of the Holy Spirit, praise, and fellowship as he intends it for each of us.

Our pursuit to grow in Christ, is fully dependent on how he puts all of these elements together, that we might know the love of Christ.

Swim with this human.

In Ephesians 3:19 Paul says it like this:

To know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.