Maybe you just need a nap

Posted byoakhillcrossvillePosted inUncategorized
Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”

Our Bible verse for today: “Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree.” 1 Kings 19:5 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Maybe you just need a nap”

“All of my worst moments come when I’m tired.” I openly admit it. The more tired I become the more prone I am to getting irritated, or impatient, or flustered. Also, when I’m physically, mentally, emotionally, and especially spiritually drained, that’s when I become most vulnerable to the attacks of Satan.

That’s what happened to Elijah. When we last left him, in yesterday’s devotional, he had just experienced a great spiritual victory as he contended with and defeated 450 evil priests of the false god Baal. But in the process, he evidently didn’t take good care of himself and he ended up burned-out. If you follow the story into chapter nineteen you find that after this time of powerful ministry and victory in the face of great opposition, he then turned fearful in the face of threats from one woman, Jezabel, and he ran away to the wilderness and hid in a cave. There we find him whimpering and whining and telling God to just leave him alone and let him die.

I can relate and you probably can too. We’ve all had times when we have pushed ourselves too far and too hard for too long and now, you are toast – just plain worn out.

Elijah wasn’t sick in his body he was sick in his spirit. Physically he was exhausted, that’s true, but it was his mental, emotional, and spiritual state that had reduced him to this state of meltdown. That’s when the angel of the Lord came, fed him, and made him take a nap. Then, once he was physically nourished and rested, he had an encounter with God that renewed him mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. He then got up, put on his big-boy pants, and went back to work.  Proving once again that sometimes the most spiritual thing we can do is to take a nap.

There’s an important lesson in this for us. Often, we deceive ourselves into thinking we don’t have time to slow down, we can’t take a break, there’s too much to do. But the truth is there comes a time when we reach the point of diminishing returns. You have peaked and now you are going downhill. And from that point forward the longer you go without giving yourself the time your body, mind, and spirit need to refresh and recharge, the more your returns will be diminished. You will be exerting more and more effort but getting less and less effective. Until finally, you are Elijah curled up in the fetal position in your own version of a cave, whimpering and whining and ineffective.

We don’t know who said it first (that has been lost to history), but there’s great truth in the old maxim that sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is to just take a nap. Please take care of yourself. We need you at your best.   

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville
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Our mailing address is:
Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

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